The Ghost of Cobblers Peak
by KiltedEngineer
Summary: October has arrived in Peach Creek. At a camp out, Eddy tells the story of the ghost of a woman, who committed suicide after murdering her cheating husband, and haunts the woods to this day. The boys decide to launch a "boys only" investigation, which Marie and Nazz take offense to. The girls then hatch a plan to scare the boys with a fake presentation...but is the story real?
1. Chapter 1

**Authors Note**

_Hello Everybody!_

_It's been a while, hasn't it?_

_Did you ever feel as though an idea sprung into your head, and it would be foolish not to act on it? Well I have one of these moments last night!_

_Tomorrow is October first, and while this was meant to be delayed, what better way to celebrate Halloween than with a short Ed, Edd n' Eddy story, set in the universe I created with Bad Girls with Big Hearts. This will be a short, yet fun little diddy (hopefully) and is not expected to exceed fifteen chapters._

_I hope to complete this by Halloween, but as usual things happen so no promises. But it will definitely not be a year long project like the last one._

This is based off of one of my favorite episodes of Hey Arnold. All of you football head fans will get it!

_SPOILER ALERT: This story takes place after Miracles and Mistletoes and is meant to be read with knowledge of the events that occurred within._

_Well, here we go!_

**Ed, Edd, n' Eddy **

**In**

**The Ghost of Cobblers Peak**

**Chapter 1**

It was a quiet autumn night in the town of Peach Creek. The month of October had arrived, and with it came the annual anticipation of the Halloween Holiday. Stores in the business district displayed various decorations in their windows, in the form of life sized scarecrows, ghosts and ghouls. Their shelves were stocked with collections of Halloween costumes, set to be donned by the children of the town on October 31st. The trees lining the lawns of the residence had changed color; their normally green leaves had vanished, and were replaced with those of various autumnal colors (red, orange, yellow and brown). Several trees have already shed their leaves, leaving their remains scattering on the lawns and sidewalks.

This particular night was darker than usual; while the moon was in it's full phase, it was partially eclipsed by a few stratus clouds, their dark and whispy forms slowly gliding across the moons bright white disk.

The little light emitted by the moon bathed the houses lining Rethink Avenue in a soft, cream colored glow. Behind Kevin's house, a small orange tent had been erected in the middle of the yard. A small lantern had been activated within, it's electromagnetic radiation passing through the thin membrane of the tent, allowing the shadows of the occupants to be seen moving about.

Keeping with the spirit of the season, the boys of Rethink Avenue had decided to organize a Friday night camp out, the intent being to enjoy various form of junk food such as s'mores and popcorn, all the while telling scary stories and sharing good times with friends.

Within the tent, Double Dee had taken up post near one of the corners. His green sleeping bag had been laid out with care, next to a small toiletry bag containing his face wash, tooth brush, and a case for his jet black wig.

Due to receiving a replica of his original hair last Christmas, (a beautiful gift from Marie), Double Dee was now able to voluntarily remove his brothers beloved ski hat, and place it in storage for safe keeping. The wig was a perfect replica of his pre-injury hair style; poker straight and jet black, parted on the side and hanging slightly below his ears. The gift had substantially raised the brainy boys self confidence, and he could not have been any more happy.

Next to Double Dee, Kevin, Eddy and Rolf sat in sequence, forming something of a semi-circle on the far side of the tent. All were wearing their standard fall attire; long sleeved versions of their typical summer wear, with Kevin opting to add a brown hounds tooth jacket over his green shirt.

The lovable oaf Ed had taken his place on the opposite side of the tent. In his hand, he clasped a flashlight, shining it upward over his face as typical of an individual telling a scary story. It happened to be his turn to do so, and as usual, the over-imaginative Ed did not fail to deliver.

As the tall boy completed his story, Double Dee looked on with a neutral expression; Kevin and Eddy appeared rather bored, resting their cheeks on the palms of their hands. Rolf on the other hand appeared quite frightened, clutching a large piece of ham (meant to drive evil demons away) in his hands as he listened:

"And so," said Ed in a relatively spooky sounding voice, "The over radiated mashed potatoes lived on, mutating continuously while retreating to the sewers, waiting for the opportunity to rise from the depths...at which time they will infect a new individual, resulting in the return of the...MUTANT SPACE WOMEN OF PLANET BLURGA! MWAH HAH HAH HAH!"

Ed switched off the flashlight, while simultaneously adopting a smile.

"The end," said Ed in a quick and dopey manner.

The boys remained silent for a few moments, at which point Double Dee decided to chime in.

"Well Ed," said Double Dee, "That was...interesting.."

"What are ya deaf?" asked Eddy, "That was just that same stupid story he always tells from that special he watches every Halloween. Remember the one he told Jonny when the girls chased us into his house? He just replaced the girls with some space women."

"Well Eddy," said Double Dee, "If you think you can do better, then why don't you share your creative macabre themed story?"

"Yeah dorky!" yelled Kevin, "Put up or shut up!"

"Rolf must hear no more," said Rolf in a fearful manner, "For his loins are about to release, just like the backs of many whales!"

At that point Eddy rose from his seated position, and made his way towards Ed.

"Well if ya think Eds story was scary Rolfie Boy," said Eddy as he snatched the flashlight from his friend, "Just wait till you hear my story."

"Alright dork, cut out the suspense," said Kevin as Ed took a seat next to him, grabbing a handful of popcorn in the process, "What's it called..."

"The Legend of the Ghost of Cobblers Peak!" said Eddy in a creepy manner, "And unlike Ed's story, this one is real!"

"Oh geez, not that story again," said Kevin.

"I'm afraid I am not familiar with this particular legend," said Double Dee.

"No problem," said Eddy, "It's a true story about love gone awry, with murderous consequences...and it all happened right here in Peach Creek."

The boys watched as Eddy dimmed the camping lantern and activated the flashlight, turning the beam into a position such that it shined upward onto his face. He proceeded to begin his story, as his friends listened in suspense.

_Many years ago, back before any of us were born, a young woman lived in a house where our neighborhood once stood. She was a farmers daughter, beautiful, kind, loved horses and her boyfriend too._

_One day, her boyfriend asked for her hand in marriage, and she said yes. The young woman couldn't have been happier; she had met the man of her dreams and was set to be married to him in a matter of months._

_However, one night, a few days before she was set to meet him at the altar, the young woman decided to pay her boyfriend a surprise visit at his house, located on the other side of the creek. She traversed the woods, the same swampy woods we all know and love behind the trailer park, slowly and full of bliss; her oil lantern in hand as she excitedly walked to the man she loved dear._

_Upon reaching his house, she quietly climbed up onto the porch, in an attempt to enter his second story window. However, upon glancing the window, she was met with the most unwelcome sight. Her boyfriend was not alone; rather, he was underneath another woman, in the throws of passion._

_Filled with rage, in mere moments, the heartbroken young farm girl was driven to insanity. She climbed down from the porch, broke into the shed, and retrieved a 20 lb sledge hammer from within. Quietly, she entered the house, tip toeing ever so gingerly up the stairs, in an attempt to surprise her cheating boyfriend, and his mistress. She entered the room, sledgehammer in hand, and made her way to the bed. _

_Her boyfriends eyes were closed as he lay on his back, enjoying the gifts provided by his mistress. By the time he reopened them, it was too late, for the farm girl had hit his mistress away with the hammer, knocking her out cold. Slowly and methodically, she beat the woman to death, blood spattered everywhere as her boyfriend watched in horror. He could do nothing but stare as his fiancé turned towards him with a horrible, maniacal grin; with a swing of the hammer, he shared his mistresses fate._

In the tent, both Ed and Rolf were shaking out of fear as Eddy told the story. They clutched each other in their arms as their teeth chattered at an alarming pace. After a slight pause, Eddy decided to continue the story.

_After her murderous rampage, the woman stole the keys to her boyfriends pickup truck. With nothing left to live for, she turned on the engine, and drove the vehicle to the edge of Cobblers Peak, overlooking the woods. With one final kick, she floored the gas pedal, sending the truck careening over the cliff and down into the trees. On the way down, the truck struck a tree trunk, ejecting the woman from the vehicle...her life ended with her impaled on one of the tree branches, deep within the woods._

"Alright Dork, I'll admit that you tell a good story," said Kevin, "But there ain't no way there's any truth behind it."

"Oh wrong you are Kevy boy," said Eddy, "What do you think happened to the Foley brothers last fall, remember those three upper class men that suddenly didn't show up for football practice on Monday?"

"They moved away, duh?" said Kevin.

"That's what they want you to think," said Eddy, "If you let me finish my story, you'll find out why they never came back."

"Make my day," said Kevin.

_The Foley brothers were unaware, just like many before them, that the Ghost of Cobblers Creek still walks the woods to this day. On the cool autumn nights of October she can be heard laughing maniacally throughout the woods. They say hell has no fury like a woman scorned, and in this case they are right. Her ghost only targets adolescent men, for in her mind all men need to pay for the dishonor her fiancé delivered to her in life. She lies waiting, ready to her revenge on any unsuspecting man foolish enough to walk through the woods...and the Foley brothers were no exception._

_Like many before them, they entered the woods on a dare...a dare to challenge the ghostly maiden. They laughed and joked, and even tried to provoke the deadly spirit...and they soon found out that it was a big mistake._

_Suddenly, the trees surrounding them began to close in, their branches reaching toward them...creaking and twisting as faces began to form within the bark...their hollowed out and disfigured eyes forming with the sound of splintering wood. The trees moaned and muttered as they reached for the brothers, who ran through the foliage, attempting to find a way out._

_The boys ran through the woods, screaming their heads off as they did. They eventually came to a clearing, over looking the calm waters of Peach Creek. The three boys, scared beyond belief, decided to take a rest on one of the logs...trying to reason with themselves that what they saw was not real._

_As the moonlight shined over the clearing, the clouds suddenly passed in front of the heavenly body, obstructing its light. At that point, the sound of a crows call, but heavily distorted and demonized, filled the air. A few moments passed, at which point a few more calls came from within the dark woods, scaring the boys to death..._

_After a few moments of eerily silence, the moonlight returned. However, at that exact moment, a horde of black crows suddenly attacked. They came from all directions, scratching and pecking, relentlessly. The injured boys began to run once again, bleeding heavily from their injuries, attempting to escape their vicious onslaught._

_The boys ran for several hundred feet, the crows continuously pecking them as they did so. This continued until the boys came to a small rocky outcropping, a cave of sorts. Desperate and weak from their injuries, the boys took refuge, hoping to weather the avian storm._

_To their great fortune, the flood of crows suddenly stopped...it was as if they were a plague, turned off as quickly as they were turned on. After ensuring the crows were gone, the boys decided to inspect their injuries. _

_With one click, the oldest used his cigarette lighter to brighten the small cave. However, to their dismay, they came upon an eerie sight. Peppered around the cave were several pikes, around twenty or so...on the end of each pike were various human heads. Some retained their skin...others were missing their jaw...still others were nothing more than skulls. On some, blood had dried as it trickled down their face, and they appeared to be screaming for their lives. It all became clear...these men were all of the Ghosts former victims, impaled on old tree branches just as she was...the men who didn't make it out of the forest alive.._

_At that moment, a slight moan sounded from deeper with the cave. Although his hand shook out of fear, the oldest boy trained his lighter in the direction of the sound, his face gasping with horror as he found its source._

_Standing on the other side of the cave was a man, a zombie if you will. He hobbled towards them with a limp, moaning with every step. His left arm hung limp towards the ground, the bones in it appearing to be broken, with one in the forearm protruding from his skin. The other hand was held outward, as if he were attempting to grab the boys. His lower jaw was loose, hanging limply toward his neck, the tongue within moving around, but unable to form any words other than a gastly gagging sound. His nose was missing, and the boys could not even tell if he was looking at them, yet if he could even see...his eyes were nothing but white, no pupils or color...it was her ex-fiancé, her demonic powers forcing him to suffer, living trapped in the caves as a living corpse...still in pain and battered from his unfortunate end._

_Wasting no time, the boys ran yet again...back out into the woods and away from the cave of horrors. As they paused behind a distant tree, attempting to catch their breath, they began to hear the soft sound of a woman's voice...humming softly to the tune of "Hush Little Baby"_

_Upon hearing the eerie sound, all three boys slowly peered their heads around the tree, angling their eyes towards the noise. It was at that point that they spotted her, the Ghost of Cobblers Creek herself. A woman dressed in white, in a long slightly tattered wedding dress. She floated above the ground, appearing as if she were ten feet tall. Her face was completely covered by her wedding veil, and her arms were covered by long white gloves, stained in several places with a bloody red. Last but not least, she cradled a bloody 20lb sledgehammer in her hands._

_The boys stared, paralyzed with fear as the ghost continued to hum her creepy melody. A few seconds passed at which point she uttered a few simple words._

_"Alright men, why don't you be good little boys and run for me...while you still can."_

_As she finished her statement, the boys took off, running through the woods. However, every attempt at escape proved worthless, for everywhere they turned, the spirit of the maiden reappeared in front of them, seeming to chase them down, all the while humming her gentle tune._

_Eventually, the boys found an abandoned shack, once used by traveling lumberjacks as a place of lodging. They funneled inside, barracading the doors with a 2x4, while attempting to phone the police with their cell phones. Unfortunately, one by one their cell phones exploded, yet another act carried out by the demonic powers of the ghost._

_They then heard a slight rap on the door. The maiden had arrived, gently knocking on the wooden planks as she continued to hum. An eerie silence overcame the shack, the only sound being the hum of the maiden, taunting the boys from outside._

_Suddenly there was a loud crash, as the head of the sledgehammer pierced through the wooden door. The boys screamed bloody murder as the sledgehammer continued to strike the door, breaking pieces away with each strike. _

_Eventually the maiden broke through, and began making her way towards the cowering boys. She lifted the hammer high over her head, laughing as she did so. The screams of the boys were quickly silenced with the drop of the hammer, and they were never seen again._

Back in the tent, Ed and Rolf continued to cower in each other's arms as Kevin and Double Dee looked upon Eddy with neutral expressions. Eddy switched off his flashlight, and simultaneously brought the lantern back to maximum intensity.

"While the story was quite gruesome and not necessarily my cup of tea," said Double Dee, "I must admit, you did a wonderful job at setting the mood and delivering quite the fright. I never knew you were such a superb story teller."

"Hey, it's easy when your just reciting the truth," said Eddy.

"I call Bull," said Kevin, "C'mon dorky, you can't actually believe that story is real?"

"Well if you are so sure of yourself," said Eddy, "Why don't you pay a visit to the woods next Friday night?"

Kevin paused for a few moments, slightly stunned at Eddy's statement.

"Yeah right," said Kevin, "I ain't wasting my time walking through the woods, I got better things to do on a Friday night."

"Uh Oh," said Eddy, "Sounds like somebody's chickening out."

"If you're so brave, how about you take a trip in the woods?" said Kevin, "I'll go if you go."

"Deal," said Eddy, "We'll all go. We'll meet behind Eds house next Friday night, and walk the creek for a few hours. I'll get my video camera to get some photographic evidence. We'll be the first kids to escape alive, and we can sell the footage for a pretty penny."

"Not bad Dorkie," said Kevin, " Now you're speaking my language.

Across tent, Double Dee sighed as he observed Kevin and Eddy plan their ghost hunt; an activity which he knew he would be drug into. The black haired teen simply sighed and buried his head into a biology textbook.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The weekend had come and gone, much to the dismay of the students at Peach Creek High School. Classes were set to begin in a half hour, as they did every Monday morning, and the hallways were flooded with students, exchanging books at their lockers as they conversed happily with their friends.

Within the halls, Eddy had completed the task of exchanging his books and had taken his place leaning against his locker in a casual stance, dusting off his yellow shirt as he did so. As he waited, Double Dee, as always, continued his preparations for the school day. One by one he loaded several text books into his book bag, mouthing the titles of the books to himself as he did so, much to Eddy's annoyance.

"C'mon man are ya done yet?" asked Eddy, "Geez for being the guy that's always yelling about being on time you're taking forever."

"Patience Eddy," said Double Dee, "We have a half hour until classes start, and good preparation habits are the foundation to a productive educational day."

"Whatever," said Eddy, "C'mon let's hit the cafeteria for breakfast, I need all the energy I can get for our ghost hunt on Friday night!

Double Dee adjusted his tie, ran his fingers through his black hair, and closed the door to his locker. He then turned towards his friend with a sarcastic stare.

"Come on Eddy," said Double Dee, "You can't possibly believe that that story is actually real."

"What do you think I'm an idiot?" asked Eddy, "I know that, but that doesn't mean I can't use it to pull of a nice little Halloween prank to put a scare into my friends!"

Double Dee sighed.

"Another brilliant Eddy prank..." said Double Dee in a sarcastic manner, "Past experience tells me that my advice on the matter will be ill-received so I will remain silent and merely tell you to 'knock yourself out'."

"That's the spirit!" said Eddy in an exuberant manner as he turned away from his locker towards the hallway.

Unfortunately, as the small Ed boy took his first step, he was flattened to the ground in a proverbial stampede. As Eddy laid on the ground in a cartoonish fashion, Double Dee watched as Ed, running hand in hand with his girlfriend May, unintentionally trampled over the boys head, forcing it to the ground.

Within seconds, the petite, somewhat chubby figure of May Kanker arrived at her locker, located adjacent to Double Dees . She was wearing her typical green sweater, accented with a large yellow flower in the center and a pair of blue jeans. Her hair as usual was parted into two low hanging ponytails secured by blue bows, bouncing wildly as she ran towards her locker.

Both teenagers appeared to have nervous expressions on their faces as they passed their friends. Upon arriving at her locker, May entered the code to her combination lock, and proceeded to fling the door open with force. This action caused a large amount of junk to spill out into the hallway, a product of Mays poor organizational skills. Ed watched nervously as she began digging through the pile, throwing several items over her shoulder as she did so (chicken bones, a sports bra, and a few old magazines)

As May continued to dig through her belongings, Eddy began to rise from the floor. Dazed and bewildered by the collision he emitted a slight moan while wobbling as if he were intoxicated.

"Did anyone get the number of that bus?" asked Eddy.

"Strange," said Double Dee, "I haven't seen Ed and May this worked up since Ed's television went out during the monster marathon earlier this year. I wonder what it could be?"

Suddenly, a high pitched feminine voice rang out from over Double Dee's shoulder; at the same time, he felt a pair of familiar arms wrap around him.

"Hey sweets, are ya enjoying the show?" asked the voice of Marie.

Marie released her boyfriend, at which point he turned to face her. Typical of the fall months, Marie had opted to don a blue long sleeved sweater, worn on top of a pair of form fitting blue jeans. Brown slip on winter boots (commonly known as Uggs) adorned her feet, completing her ensemble. Around her neck, the gold necklace Double Dee had acquired for her many months ago hung with pride, accenting her wide, flirty smile.

For the first time in five years, Marie's shoulders were concealed by tufts of black hair. The surgery on her right eye had been a complete success; no longer ashamed of her condition, Marie had allowed her hair to grow to shoulder length, and had rid herself of her signature side swept bang style. Free from the confines of that particular hairdo, Marie experimented with different hairstyles on a daily basis; on this particular day, she had opted to part her hair into low hanging ponytails, copying her little sisters style; the exception being that her bows were pink in lieu of blue.

"Good morning Marie," said Double Dee, "Just more quirky antics from our oafish yet lovable comrades I suppose."

Marie rolled her eyes.

"Pay her no mind," said Marie as she flicked one of her ponytails, "Ed told her a story about some Ghost Bride or something that hunts men in the woods, and now their imaginations are running wild thinking it's real."

"Oh yes, the oh so ever present Ghost of Cobblers Peak," said Double Dee in a sarcastic manner, "A simple tall tale conjured up by Eddy during our camp out last Friday night."

"Oooooh a ghost story," said Marie in a slow and playful manner, "I never heard that one Eddy, care to share?"

"Don't tell it Eddy!" yelled Ed as he placed his hands over his ears.

As Ed did so, May had finally retrieved what she was looking for; a set of shoulder pads, and a catchers vest and mask. She proceeded to slam the football pads onto Ed's shoulders, after which she placed the catchers vest over his abdomen; finally she fitted the mask to his face.

"There," said May in her typical adenoidal voice, "That should provide you some protection from her sledgehammer of doom. Keep the gear on until the end of October, when her spirit retreats back to hell until next Halloween."

"Alright, alright," said Double Dee as he walked towards his friends, "I think we are getting a tad too carried away with this little ghost story. Let me assure you that there is no such thing as..."

"Safety!" said Eddy as he suddenly placed his hand over Double Dee's mouth, silencing him, "For the Ghost of Cobblers Peak leaves no stone unturned, and has no mercy for any of her victims, no matter how protected they may feel!"

At the conclusion of Eddy's statement, Ed and May proceeded to wrap their arms around each other in an embrace, both shaking in a fearful manner as their teeth chattered. As Eddy removed his hand from Double Dees mouth, the black-haired boy stared at his friend with a sardonic expression, at which point another feminine voice filled the air.

"The ghost of cobblers peak?" asked voice of Nazz, "That's a new one!"

The group turned towards the end of the corridor, at which point they spotted Nazz, who had just approached the group with her boyfriend. Nazz took her place next to Marie, quite perplexed at Ed's unusual manner of dress as Kevin approached Eddy. The jock proceeded to punch the small boy in a playful manner as they shared a giggle at Ed's expense.

"Hey girlfriend, what's up?" asked Nazz, "Digging the hair!"

"Thanks!" said Marie, "Eddy was just about to tell us the ghost story that's got my sister and big Ed scared to half to death!"

"Far out," said Nazz, "I'd like to hear it!"

"Go ahead Dorky," said Kevin, "Tell it again."

"Alright," said Eddy in a rather overconfident manner, "Here goes!"

Eddy spent the next ten minutes reciting the story of the Ghost of Cobblers Peak for the initiated. At the conclusion of his story, Marie decided to comment.

"Wow, that was quite a story!" said Marie.

"Yeah, like who knew the woods behind the trailer park were haunted?" asked Nazz in a rather ditzy manner.

"Chill out babe," said Kevin, "Those woods ain't haunted, Dorky's just a good story teller. Besides you don't have nothing to worry about, all of us men are going out there this Friday to check it out and prove once and for all that she isn't real."

"Neat!" said Nazz, "Mind if we tag along?"

"Yeah," said Marie, as she grabbed hold of Double Dee's arm, "A nice romantic walk through the woods, with the added consequence of potentially having our brains splattered out."

"Whoah hold the phone!" said Eddy, "Friday nights our guy night, it's just going to be us."

"Yeah," said Kevin, "This is a man's job, you girls would be too scared to get a good shot."

"Excuse me?." asked Nazz as she adopted an annoyed expression.

"C'mon babe," said Kevin, "You know guys are just better at stuff like that than girls."

"Yeah," said Eddy, "After all, she only goes after men, so it's not like she'd try to get you anyway."

Nazz elected not to respond to Kevin's statement. The blonde girl merely turned away from her boyfriend, and began walking towards the bench across the hall with her arms folded. Marie watched as her friend took a seat on the bench, crossing her legs as she stared in the opposite direction of Kevin with an angry glare. As Marie observed these events, she suddenly adopted an irritated expression of her own.

"Wow, harsh," said Marie, at which point she turned towards Double Dee, "At least I know my dream boat isn't a jerk. You'd want me to come along, right Double Dee."

"Marie, I would enjoy nothing more than for you to join us on our venture out into the wilderness of Peach Creek," said Double Dee.

"Yay," said Marie, "I knew I coul...

"However," said Double Dee, interrupting her reply, "I'd prefer if you sat this one out for your own safety. While your exotropia operation was a complete success, the doctor warned you that you would require some time to adjust to your new binocular vision, especially in low light levels. The woods are chock full of bumpy rocks, sharp tree branches, and slippery surfaces, providing the perfect opportunity for inadvertent injury, and I wouldn't want to see you visited by misfortune so soon after your surgery."

"So you do think I'm too scared?," said Marie in a rather annoyed intonation.

"Absolutely not!" said Double Dee, "I for one am one-hundred percent for gender equality."

As Double Dee and Marie bickered, Kevin and Eddy observed from a distance. After a slight giggle, Kevin decided to jokingly comment on the situation.

"Damn Eddy," said Kevin, "You just put Double Dee in the dog house."

"Hey, he did it to himself," said Eddy, "It ain't my fault that his girls so pushy."

Eddy adopted a sly grin.

"He needs to take some pointers from me," said Eddy, "Me and my girl love each other, but she understands that bro time is bro time, especially now that she's got a girl friend of her own to hang out with. Ain't no way I'm being forced to do anything against my will..."

At that moment, in a speak of the devil manner, a pair of hands suddenly slammed a thick flannel shirt over Eddy's head, momentarily obstructing his vision. The same hands then proceeded to pull the sweater down over his head, as another pair (equipped with long, well manicured, hot pink fingernails) lifted his arms and stuffed them into the sleeves, the ends of which were filled with straw as if to provide the appearance of a scarecrow. Providing Eddy no time to react, the first pair of hands placed a large, orange mask, (taking the the form of a jack-o-lantern), over Eddy's head, obscuring his face. Lastly, the second pair of hands gently placed a tall, brown, pointed hat, like that worn by scarecrows, on top of the pumpkins green stem. The first pair of hands then took hold of his shoulders, gently turning the small boy towards the source of his sudden attack.

Peering out of the costumes eye holes, Eddy gazed upward to find two familiar faces. His girlfriend Lee stood on the left, wearing her typical autumn ensemble; a green designer sweater, blue jeans, and black high heels boots. Her beautiful red curls hung over her shoulder, secured away from her face by a green hand band. Her blue eyes stared intently downward from behind her glasses, as if she were analyzing the costume Eddy had been involuntarily placed into. Lastly, she had attached a pair of large silver-hooped earrings to her ears; her intent being to match the gold ones worn by her best friend.

Stand to her right was the tall, slim figure of Lindsay. The blonde diva had gained a few inches in height since her reunion with Lee, and now stood at a base height of 6'2" (6'4" in her brown leather high heeled boots). As usual her long blonde waves hung loose, separated from her bangs by a blue head band; cascading over her shoulders and providing a beautiful contrast to the lavender color of her signature fur coat. Her large, gold earrings hung from her ears, bouncing around as she shifted her head while examining Eddy's costume. She had lifted her right hand to her chin, gripping her jaw as if she were thinking while relaxing her pelvis to the right.

"What do you think?" asked Lee as she eyeballed Eddy's costume intently, "Does it fit?"

Lindsay removed a flexible tailors measuring tape from her hand bag. She proceeded to lift Eddy's arms to various positions, taking various measurements of the costume in the process.

"Boss," said Lindsay, "The arms might have to be taken up a bit, but that's an easy fix."

Kevin began laughing as Eddy struggled to to remove the Jack-O-Lanterns head, relishing the fact that Eddy had just eaten his words regarding "never being forced to do anything against his will".

Eventually, Eddy was able to pry the mask off of his head, gasping for air due to the lack of ventilation typically found within plastic Halloween masks. After catching his breath, he turned his attention towards the girls.

"Jesus," said Eddy has he continued to pant, "What are you two doing, trying to suffocate me!?"

"Sorry sweetie," said Lee as she delivered Eddy a kiss on the cheek, "I'm just so excited about our new project."

"Oh boy," said Eddy, "What kind of diabolical scheme has L Squared come up with this time?"

"Oh nothing," said Lee as she removed a choreography book from her handbag, "Just my new original Halloween themed ballet pas de duex. It's called, the 'Pumpkin Patch Prince!' I wrote the choreography, and Liz designed the costumes."

Lee leaned down, bringing herself into eye level with Eddy, staring towards his with a flirty smile.

"And guess what?" said Lee, "I wrote the titular part especially for your style of dance. I figured we could perform it at the fall festival, I already signed us up."

"Sounds great babe," said Eddy, "But can we ditch the mask, there ain't no way I'm gonna be able to breath in this thing on stage."

"Oh don't worry Hun," said Lindsay, "The mask is just to get the color palette for the costume right. Now that I know what I need, turning you into the Pumpkin Patch Prince will be a breeze! It's just going to take a little bit of tender love and care and...of course!"

Lindsay reached into her hand bag, retrieving two kits of stage makeup from within. She held the boxes outward, brandishing them for Eddy to see as she adopted a wide smile.

"Maaaakeupp!" said Lindsay in a long drawn out feminine manner.

Lee and Lindsay shared a slight giggle as Eddy groaned under his breath. While not too happy at the prospect of donning makeup, Eddy relished nothing more than making his girlfriend happy, and couldn't help but smile and she and her friends playful antics.

Lindsay placed her kits back into her handbag as Lee continued to giggle. Eventually, Lee glanced across the hallway in the direction of Marie, who appeared to be quite annoyed regarding her being denied a chance at the ghost hunt by the boys. Taking note of her sisters sour demeanor, the tall red head decided to interject.

"Yo," yelled Lee, obtaining Marie's attention, "What's wrong with you?"

"Can you believe this?" asked Marie as she began making her way towards her sister, "The boys are going on a hunt for the Ghost of Cobblers Peak this Friday, and they don't want us to come because 'we're girls and can't handle ourselves'."

"That story about the broad that killed her husband and committed suicide in the woods?" asked Lee, "Youse guys actually believe in that stuff?"

"That's beside the point," said Marie, "Did you hear what I just said? I figure you two of all people would be pissed about someone being pushed aside just because they didn't have a dick."

"Who cares?" said Lee, "Let the guys be, gives us more time to work on our own stuff!"

At the conclusion of her statement, Lee delivered a playful wink to Eddy, causing the small boy to crack a smile.

Marie sighed.

"Unbelievable," said Marie as she began making her down the hallway, "Fine guys, go have fun without us. We've got more important matters to attend to on Friday night anyway."

In a matter of seconds, Marie had reached Nazz's position. As she passed her blonde friend, still seated on the bench, she invited her to join her on her trek to class.

"C'mon Nazz, let's ditch this toxic crowd and get to homeroom," said Marie, "We got some planning to do."

"What do you mean?" asked Nazz.

Marie leaned towards Nazz's ear, lowering her voice as she did so in an effort to remain discreet.

"The boys think we're too scared to go on a ghost hunt," said Marie, "Let's just see how scared they get when the ghost actually shows up."

Marie delivered a wink towards her friend, causing Nazz to adopt a sly smile. The two girls continued to walk down the hall, turning the corner and disappearing from view.

The crowd remained silent as the two girls made their exit. Double Dee remained fixed on the end of the hallway with an expression of concern, while the remainder of the group appeared indifferent to Marie's sudden outburst. After a few moments, Double Dee decided to take action. He lifted his hands to his chest while flaring his arms outward, and began jogging briskly in an attempt to catch up to Marie.

After a few more moments, the remainder of the crowd began to disperse; intending to make their way to the cafeteria for breakfast before it closed. Prior to leaving, Eddy carefully removed his costume, handing it to Lindsay for safe keeping. He then turned towards Lee.

"Well Babe, we're gonna go get some breakfast," said Eddy, "You guys in?"

"Sure, just let us make a pit stop at Lizzy's locker to put the costume away," said Lee, "We'll meet yas there love."

"Sounds good," said Eddy, "See ya babe."

Lee and Lindsay watched as Eddy turned to begin his trek towards the cafeteria. As the stout boy rounded the corner, disappearing from view, Lee decided to initiate a new conversation

"Ugh," said Lee as she sighed, "Marie, Marie, Marie..."

"She is quite the hothead," said Lindsay, "It only took her about five months to actually begin speaking to me. I mean, like I was mean to her, but I did apologize and did my best to make it up to her."

"It's just Marie's nature," said Lee, "She gets upset over the stupidest things. I mean who cares if the guys want to spend their Friday night amongst themselves? It gives us girls more time to do all of the important stuff we need to do."

"Amen," said Lindsay

The girls shared a giggle, followed by a slight pause. A few seconds passed, at which point Lee adopted a sly grin, slowly turning towards Lindsay in the process. To her surprise, Lindsay had adopted a smile as well, as if she were sharing brain waves with her best friend.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" asked Lee.

"Uh huh..." said Lindsay as she smiled, "Time to have some fun."

"C'mon," said Lee as she placed her hand on Lindsay's shoulder, "We got some work to do."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The school day had come and gone. Night had begun to befall the tranquil town of Peach Creek and the denizens of the Rethink Avenue cul-de-sac had finished up dinner amongst their families. While most of the children had opted to spend the remainder of their night lounging in their rooms, or front of the television set, the highly determined duo of Marie and Nazz were in the process of initiating their plan to get even with the boys.

The two girls had decided to meet up at Nazz's house after dinner, and were currently making their way down the sidewalk in the direction of Jonny's house. As they walked, the two girls shared a conversation about the events that had occurred earlier that day.

"I still can't believe those two," said Marie, "We can't handle ourselves just because we are girls, give me a break I could kick both of their asses if I wanted to."

"Seriously, Kevin is such a jerk sometimes," said Nazz, "I mean he does come through on occasion, and can be sweet when he wants to, but occasionally he needs a swift kick in the butt to get him back in his place."

"I feel bad," said Marie, "Double Dee is so sweet to me, I didn't mean to call him out like that in front of everyone because I know he was really trying to help, but I wanted to show the rest of the boys that I wasn't taking any of their crap. He did apologize, and I accepted, but that doesn't mean I can't have a little bit of Halloween fun and prank him while we're at it."

Nazz and Marie shared a slight giggle as they made their way down Jonny's driveway.

"Now we just need the tools to do the job," said Nazz.

"Are you sure this guy can help us?" asked Marie.

"Sure," said Nazz, "Jonny's got all sorts of grappling hooks, props, and other stuff down in his basement from when he used to play superhero. I'm sure he'll let us borrow some."

At that point, the two girls had finally reached Jonny's front stoop. Upon approaching the door, Nazz reached upward and pressed the adjacent button, initiating the typical "ding dong" tone characteristic of a door bell. A few seconds passed, at which point the wooden door opened with an audible creak, revealing the smiling face of Jonny 2x4. The eccentric boy donned his typical outfit of choice for the fall; a grey long sleeved sweater, black pants, and his trademark sandals.

"Hiya Nazz!" said Jonny with a smile, "Come to see the new issue of Captain Melonhead."

"No time for that now Jonny," said Nazz, "We need to borrow some equipment."

"Equipment?" asked Jonny, "What for?"

"To get even with the rest of the guys," said Marie, "See, the boys are heading out to the woods this Friday night to go on a ghost hunt, but they told us we couldn't go because we are girls."

"Yeah," said Nazz, "We decided to play a little prank on them to get even. We'll just see who the scared ones really are."

"Wow the woods!" said Jonny, "Those woods are where Plank and his ancestors are from in my Melonhead headcanon. I've been there plenty of times in the fall to visit the stumps of Planks family, but I've never seen The Ghost of Cobblers Peak myself."

"Wait," said Marie, "You've heard the story before?"

"Sure have," said Jonny, "It's one of my favorites! My dad told it to me last Halloween, it's a famous Peach Creek Legend. I've been trying to get evidence of her existence ever since but she never seems to want to make an appearance."

"So you know exactly what we need to do to put on a convincing show," said Nazz.

"Sure do," said Jonny, "I know the story like the back of my hand. If anybody knows wood it's me, and I have a bunch of tricks to make trees look like they are alive. Not only that, but I've got all kinds of fake crows, mannequins and other cool decorations you guys can use if you want."

"Wow Jonny that's awesome," said Nazz, "Mind if we come in and pick your brain a bit?"

"Sure," said Jonny, "Under one condition..."

"Sure, sure," said Marie as she and Nazz made their way into the house, "We'll do whatever you want, just show us what you got!"

"Okie dokie!" said Jonny as he closed the door behind him, and proceeded to follow the girls to the basement door.

Jonny led the girls down into the basement of his house, which served as Jonny's proverbial "imagination station". Despite toning down his active superhero lifestyle, the boy maintained many aspects of the original melon cave, including his throne, as well as display cases and lockers for his costumes. On the far side of the room, the bald headed boy had set up of small workstation, consisting of an angled drawing desk with an attached prehensile lamp; a Christmas gift from his parents, used to produce his amateur comic books.

The girls spent an hour in Jonny's basement, learning all of the tricks Jonny had to offer regarding "arboreal special effects" while gathering various Halloween decorations to use as props. After ensuring they had obtained all that they needed, the girls placed all of their borrowed goods in a couple of burlap bags for transport back to the Van Bartonschmeer residence, and proceeded to make their way back to the front door, along with Jonny.

"Thanks Jonny!" said Nazz with a smile, carrying one of the large bags over her shoulder as she reached for the door knob.

"Yeah," said Marie, in a playful manner, "Almost makes me feel bad for stealing Plank to use as a back scratcher a couple years ago."

At the conclusion of her statement, Marie delivered a playful wink in Jonny's direction at which point she turned back towards her blonde friend. She delivered a nod, signaling Nazz that it was time to take their leave.

In a flash, the girls excitedly made their way out of Jonny's house and onto his lawn; however, they had barely taken two steps when the voice of Jonny rang out from behind.

"Hold on girls, aren't ya forgetting something?" asked Jonny.

The two girls stopped in their track mid step, and proceeded to simultaneously turn their heads in the direction of the door, where Jonny remained standing in the threshold. The boy had taken a leaning stance on the jam, folding his arms as he did so; his usual happy-go-lucky smile replaced with a sardonic expression.

"What's that Jonny?" asked Nazz, appearing confused regarding Jonny proposition.

"Our agreement," said Jonny, "I said you could borrow my stuff under one condition, and your response was...and I quote...'We'll do whatever you want, just show us what you got!'"

At that moment, Nazz gently bit her bottom lip, a common expression of uncertainty typically displayed by the cheerleader; simultaneously Marie rubbed the back of her head while gazing towards the ground, adopting a melancholy expression of her own.

"Gee Jonny," said Nazz, "We're kind of short on time, what did you have in mind?"

"Nothing too extreme," said Jonny, "I just need some ears to listen to my latest Captain Melonhead Adventure!"

At that point, Jonny reached behind the door and (utilizing cartoon physics prevalent in the Ed, Edd n' Eddy universe) retrieved a large pile of loose paper. The stack appeared to be around two feet tall, and contained what seemed to be thousands of rough sketches of Jonny, Nazz, and Plank as their super hero alter egos.

"I'll admit it's a bit too long," said Jonny in an exuberant manner, "But it shouldn't take more than around three or four hours to go through it!"

Marie and Nazz turned towards each other, sharing a doubtful expression for a moments duration. A few seconds passed, at which point Nazz decided to respond.

"Listen Jonny, we'd love to stay and hear your story, but we've got a lot of work to do to prepare for Friday night," said Nazz, "Let me take a rain check this time, I promise I'll be back and we can go over your story for as long as you want. Next week sound alright?"

"But we had a deal," said Jonny.

"And we still do," said Nazz, "I'm just postponing our end of it."

"Yeah," said Marie, "There's no rush, we can do it anytime, right?"

Jonny remained still, staring at the two girls in silence with a neutral expression.

"Awesome," said Nazz, taking Jonny's silence as an affirmative, "Thanks again, you're a pal! We'll bring these back when we're done, okay."

At the conclusion of her statement, the girls turned and continued on their way back to Nazz's residence. Jonny observed as the two teenagers entered Nazz's front door, chatting and chuckling as they disappeared from view. He remained at the door for a few more seconds, pondering as if he were deep in thought, before suddenly adopting an angry expression. He then proceeded to slam the door shut with force, isolating the chilly autumn air from the interior of his residence.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

It was now Friday afternoon. The sun had graced the town of Peach Creek for the entirety of the day, as cumulus clouds continuously moved slowly across the blue sky. A slight breeze was present, rustling the gold, orange, and red leaves adorned the trees in its brisk flow, while blowing the piles of already fallen leaves through the neighborhood.

The school day had come and gone, leaving the children of Peach Creek to spend their Friday afternoon however they wished. For most, this meant making preparations for the ghost hunt that had been the topic of conversation all week, set to take place that night.

The large, oafish, yet lovable Ed had taken his place in his basement. It was 4:00 p.m., and the boy had been home from school for about an hour. After a quick snack from the kitchen, the boy decided to relax in his old reclining armchair, opting to watching a marathon of old cartoons as he awaited the arrival of his friends.

However, the combination of lack of sleep (due to watching a horror movie marathon the previous night), as well as the monotony of the school day, resulted in tall Ed boy falling asleep. As he rested, his face seemed to contort in various expressions, consisting of bliss and pleasure, as well as fear and panic; a product of the dream he was currently experiencing:

_Ed, dressed in a well pressed three piece suit, had just exited through a set up double doors into a hallway of sorts. As the double doors closed, the sight of a crowd inside, (in the form of shadows), could be seen conversing happily, as if they were at a social gathering. As Ed exited the lounge, he appeared quite exuberant as his belly was completely filled with the finest pork sausage in the state._

_Giggling happily, the boy boarded his bicycle, conveniently placed next to the exit of the lounge. He pushed off with his right foot, sending the bicycle on its way down the hall as he whistled a happy tune._

_As Ed put distance between he and the hall, the 1920's jazz music emanating from within faded away, and was replaced by a still and eery silence. This particular hallway seemed to be located in the interior of a hotel of sorts; the floor was lined with carpeting patterned with various shades of orange, brown and red. The walls were covered with "toile" wallpaper, a tan background with yellow spotted flowers, reminiscent of the 1970's. Along the walls of the corridor were several brown doors, each numbered with a three digit code, indicating the room number within the hotel._

_Ed fearfully pedaled his bicycle, eye-balling his surroundings as he steered his bicycle around corners and through the maze-like halls. Eventually, he took a right turn and came to a dead end; the end was around thirty feet away, the terminal wall being decorated with a photograph of a bowl of Chunky Puffs. __More importantly, the hallway was far from empty, and Ed's eyes widened as he stared towards the end, realizing he was no longer alone. _

_Standing at the end of the hallway was a very familiar face, that of his little red headed sister Sarah. To his surprise, Sarah was not alone, but accompanied by a doppelgänger, an exact copy of the girl. The twin Sarah's stood next each other staring down the hallway towards Ed with blank and empty stares. Both were wearing light blue dresses, white stockings, and black Mary Jane shoes. Their red locks hung loose, with both of their heads adorned with a large blue bow. Both girls held hands as they continued to stare in the direction of Ed._

_Suddenly the girls facial expression turned to that of anger._

_"Ed!" yelled the Sarah's, "Come play with us, forever and ever you stupid idiot!"_

_Ed remained completely still, paralyzed with fear as he continued to gaze down the hallway._

_"And if you don't" said the Sarahs, "We're telling mom!"_

_At the conclusion of their statement, the two Sarah's slowly vanished into thin air, leaving Ed to stare at an empty hallway from his bicycle. A few seconds passed at which point a slight click sounded from behind Ed, as if a doorknob had turned and unlatched. The fearful boy slowly turned his head, in an attempt to locate the source of the noise._

_To his surprise, one of the doors on the right side of the hallway had unlatched, falling open around two inches. The tall boy slowly rose off of his bike, placed the kick stand down, and proceed to make his was towards the door a__s if he were hypnotized._

_Upon reaching the wooden door, Ed placed his hand on the surface, just underneath placard indicating the rooms number: 372. He proceeded to push the door to the fully open position, and proceeded to slowly make his way inside._

_Ed drug his feet as he walked across the carpet, the noise of his feet and running water being the only sounds emanating from inside the room. He surveyed his surroundings, taking note of the elaborate decor of the suite; a pull out sofa, decorated in the same toile pattern as the exterior walls sat near the wall, painted a shade of seafoam green. The carpets were a light shade of blue, perfectly accenting the color of the walls._

_The large Ed boy proceeded to continue deeper into the suite, at which point he discovered another door adjacent to the king-sized bed. As he did before, he placed his hand on the thin panel door, and proceeded to push it to its fully open position._

_Ed was slightly blinded by the bright lights as he took note of his new surroundings; he was within the bathroom, decorated with the same seafoam green as the main portion of the suite. To his right, a large mirror adorned the wall above the vanity, to his left sat the tan colored toilet._

_While the suite was quite luxurious and easy on the eyes, Ed remained focused on the far side of the room, where an ornate green bathtub sat. The semi transparent shower curtain was retracted, covering the interior of the tub; however, Ed was able to once again discern that he was not alone, as a blurry humanoid figure could be seen sitting in the tub behind the shower curtain._

_As the sound of dripping water filled the air, a hand suddenly reached towards the edge of the curtain, pulling it ever so slowly towards the end of the bath tub. As the curtain retracted, Ed's face transformed to one of surprise, as he came upon a familiar face._

_Within the bath tub sat none other than his girlfriend May. Her hair hung loose, soaked from the water within the tub; in lieu of her typical happy-go-lucky smile, the girl maintained a somewhat out of character flirty and amorous grin._

_Suddenly, Ed's eyes widened, seeming to pop out of his head as his face turned a slight shade of red; this action was due to May slowly rising up to a standing position, revealing that she was wearing nothing but a green bikini, surprising and exciting the tall dopey boy._

_The amorous May proceeded to walk slowly towards her boyfriend with a flirty grin. Upon reaching him, she wrapped her arms around his neck; at the the same time, Ed proceeded to place his hands around her waist, pulling her closer to him in the process. In a matter of seconds, the two initiated a long, (and awkward, typical of the goofballs) passionate kiss._

_After spending a few seconds locking lips, Ed opened his eyes, taking sight of he and May through the bathroom mirror; however to his shock and horror, he was no longer holding May in his arms. Through the mirror, the bikini clad back of May was now completely covered with a bloody white dress. In addition, her arms adorned with tattered white gloves, and the back of her head was covered with a retracted wedding veil._

_Ed suddenly let go of the mystery woman, staring into her eyes with a fearful expression. Mays face was replaced with one of complete darkness, sans a pair of bloody red eyes. The mystery woman, a caricature of the ghost of cobblers peak, reached both of her hands up, placing the veil over her face as she began to laugh manically. _

_As the bride continued to laugh, Ed slowly backed out of the bathroom, staring at the ghost as he did so. The woman followed him, laughing heavily as she reached out attempting to grab the boy, at which point he emitted a long drawn out scream. He proceeded to turn and run out of the suite into the hallway, leaning backwards and flailing his body as he always did when he ran._

_Suddenly, as typical of dreams, he found himself cowering within a small closet, seemingly fearful for his life. Outside, the ghost had acquired a sledgehammer, and had proceed to make her way towards the closet door. She began swinging the hammer in a rhythmic pattern, striking the door repeatedly, splintering it with each blow. _

_Eventually, the woman managed to pierce a small hole in the center of door. Ed watched with fear as the woman peaked her head through the hole. Her mouth was visible from underneath her veil, revealing her toothy maniacal grin._

_"Here's Ghost Bride!" yelled the woman in a long drawn out manner (picture a Vicky the Babysitter-esque growl)_

As the nightmare raged within Ed's head, Double Dee and Eddy had made their way to Ed's house, intent on meeting their friend early in preparation for their escapade. The two boys stood at the window leading into Ed's basement room allowing them full view of the interior. Upon noting that Ed was fast asleep, Eddy adopted a sly grin as he rubbed his palms together in front of him.

"Perfect," said Eddy with a playful, yet sinister intonation, "He's fast asleep."

"It appears that that movie marathon has finally caught up with our dear friend," said Double Dee.

"Yep," said Eddy, "This gives me the perfect opportunity to test the waters on operation 'scare the shit out of Kevin.'"

"Brilliant name Eddy," said Double Dee in a sarcastic manner, "And bonus points for the added vulgarity. What oh so special plan would you happen to have in mind."

"Well Double Dee," said Eddy, "Here's a sneak peak."

At that point, Eddy retrieved a Halloween mask from the interior of his backpack. The mask was in the form of skeleton and had appeared to have been slightly degraded due to being in storage for so long. Eddy had also attached several pieces of tissue paper to the top of the mask, meant to imitate a wedding veil.

Eddy turned away from Double Dee, and proceeded to slide the mask over his face. He then whipped back towards Double Dee, leaning slightly towards his friend as if he were attempting to show off the mask.

As Eddy stared towards Double Dee, the stiff masks expression appearing to gaze upon the boy with an angry grin, Double Dee remained unamused.

"Ooooh Eddy, how frightening," said Double Dee, "I must say I am actually more fearful for you, as months of storage could have caused the unfortunate buildup of unhealthy mold within the folds of that mask. Please allow me to disinfect it."

"No time," said Eddy as he pushed Ed's window to the open position, leaning down in preparation for entry as he did so, "Time for some action, follow my lead."

Eddy proceeded to lower himself into Ed's room, attempting to be as silent as possible. Double Dee sighed, and proceeded to follow suit. The small Ed boy tiptoed quietly across Ed's room, on his way to Ed's sleeping position. As he walked, he made a quick stop to retrieve a hockey stick off of the floor, for use as a makeshift weapon.

As Eddy approached Ed, he proceeded to grasp the hockey stick in both of his hands, lifting it above his head as if he were going to strike the boy. Double Dee observed from a distance with a neutral expression, awaiting the result of Eddy's prank.

Unbeknownst to Eddy, a battle was continuing to rage within Ed's world of nightmares:

_The ghost removed her face from the small hole she had made in the door, disappearing back into the hallway. With one final swing, she broke the door down completely, providing herself access to the helpless and cowering Ed. As she approached, she lifted the hammer high above her head, preparing to deliver the final blow. As these events unfolded, the soft sound of a voice filled the air...in actuality, it was Eddy's voice, attempting to imitate the feminine sound of the spirit._

_"Oooooh Ed," _

To Eddy's surprise, Ed's eyes suddenly opened as he jarred himself awake from his nightmare. The boy emitted a long drawn out scream, comparable to the volume of a freight train as he took sight of Eddy standing over him in costume. To Eddy's surprise, Ed suddenly rose from his horizontal position, and took hold of a TV tray located adjacent to the chair.

Double Dee watched with concern as Ed proceeded to grab hold of the table, and use it to repeatedly bludgeon Eddy, knocking the boy down in self defense as he screamed.

"Back Evil-Doer!" yelled Ed as he continued to hit Eddy with the table, "Give me back my May and be banished to the depths of oblivion where you belong!"

"Ed...Ed...ED!" yelled Double Dee as he ran towards the commotion, "Cease this violence immediately! There is no ghoul, this is simply a failed, in or this unfortunate case, successful, attempt to frighten you by Eddy."

With Double Dee's statement, Ed ceased bludgeoning his friend and glanced down towards the now grounded boy. In a cartoonish fashion, the mask had slid off of the small boys head, revealing his dazed face. He laid on his stomach, bruised and battered as his upper teeth rested on the floor; his large green tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth.

Ed adopted a melancholy expression, at which point he reached down and took a hold of his friends three thin hairs. He proceeded to lift Eddy to a standing position, brushing his friends shirt off as he did so.

"Whoops, sorry Eddy," said Ed, "I just had a bad dream."

Double Dee giggled.

"Well Eddy," said Double Dee, "It appears your brilliant plan backfired."

Eddy shook off his injuries, returning to his ordinary self in a matter of seconds.

"Maybe," said Eddy, "But it sure did scare the crap out of Ed."

At that point, the sound of stomping feet sounded on the floor above, as if they were walking towards the basement door. The stomps caused the models suspended from Ed's ceiling to shake, as a nervous expression overcame the dopey boys face.

"Oh no, Sarah's coming and she is mad," said Ed, "She and Jimmy are recording some Halloween Karaoke songs and my mom told me not to make anymore noise or I'd be grounded."

"Don't worry Ed," said Eddy as he redonned his mask, "Let a pro handle this. Time for Halloween prank number two."

As the footsteps drew closer, traveling down the basement stairs at a rapid pace, Eddy ran behind Ed's armchair; hiding in anticipation of scaring the children upon arrival.

In a matter of seconds, the door to Ed's bedroom flung open with force. Standing behind it was an extremely angry Sarah, who was of course accompanied by the most more reserved Jimmy. Sarah proceeded to march into the room, stomping heavily towards her older brother Ed as Jimmy entered behind her in a calm manner.

"Ed!" said Sarah as she grabbed Ed by the shirt collar, pulling him down towards her, "I thought I told you to keep quiet! Me and Jimmy are trying to record our pop album, and you and your idiot friends keep messing IT UP!"

"I know I'm sorry baby sister," said Ed in a fearful manner, "Please don't tell Mom, it's not my thought, it was the Ghost of Cobblers Peak. She invaded my dreams, brainwashed my little May, and tried to destroy me with her massive sledgehammer of doom."

"The Ghost of Cobblers Peak!" said Jimmy in a timid voice, "Not that story again, the nightmare's have yet to cease since last Halloween...somebody hold me."

"There, there Jimmy," said Sarah as she hugged her friend, "She ain't real, it's just a stupid story made up by all of the idiot boys."

"Do not be fooled baby sister," said Ed, "For the Ghost is real, laying low and waiting for the opportunity to strike innocent victims."

"Huh," said Sarah, "If she's real, then where is she?"

"I'M RIGHT HERE!" yelled the voice of Eddy as he suddenly jumped out from behind the chair, landing directly in front of Jimmy. The display illicited a fearful expression from the wimpy boy, causing him to shriek with terror. In an instant, the blue-shirted boy had bolted out of Ed's room, screaming as he ran up the stairs at what seemed like light speed.

"Jimmy!" yelled Sarah as she turned toward the stairs, "Wait!"

As Jimmy made his exit, Eddy removed the mask and began laughing heavily at his own joke, pointing towards the stairs and grabbing his gut as he did so.

"Oh man," said Eddy as he walked towards Double Dee, laughing all along the way, "Did ya see the little wimps face? It was priceless."

As Eddy continued laughing, completely distracted from his surroundings, Sarah turned back toward the two Ed boys. In a matter of seconds, her face turned to a bright shade of red, as her anger level continuously rose.

"Um, Eddy..." said Double Dee, attempting to warn his friend of Sarah's wrath.

"I mean, he's just too easy..." said Eddy, still distracted by his laughter and failing to notice Sarah retrieving one of the decorative Jack-O-Lanterns peppering Ed's room

Eddy's laughter was quickly silenced as Sarah carried the jack O Lantern to Eddy's position, and proceeded to slam it down on top of his head. This action caused Eddy to lose his balance, hobbling around the room as he attempted to remove the pumpkin from his head.

"You big jerk!" yelled Sarah, "Why don't you pick on someone your own age you bully!"

At that point, Sarah delivered a swift kick to Eddy's groin, causing the small Ed boy to drop to his knees as Ed and Double Dee winced; both recognizing the great pain Eddy was experiencing.

After her final attack, Sarah marched towards the exit of the room, stomping angrily as she did so; in an instant, she had exited the room, slamming the door behind her, leaving the Ed boys to deal with their situation.

"My goodness Eddy!" said Double Dee as he helped Eddy to his feet, "Are you alright, the gonads are an extremely sensitive region of the male anatomy."

"You think I don't know that?" said Eddy, his voice muffled by the Jack O Lantern, "I'm the one who just took a hit in the balls, right? I'm fine, just help me get this stupid thing off of my head!"

Ed giggled as he made his way towards Eddy, assisting Double Dee with removing the pumpkin from Eddy's head.

"Eddy's Jack," said Ed, "Jack the Pumpkin King!"

At the completion of his statement, the boys finally managed to pry the pumpkin off of Eddy's head. As the boy gasped for air, grasping his stomach in the process, Double Dee decided to comment on the situation.

"It seems your pranks have gone quite well, eh Eddy?" said Double Dee, "It seems all you have managed to accomplish in the last few days is having pumpkins smashed onto your head by characters voiced by Janyse Jaud."

Double Dee giggled.

"Whatever," said Eddy, "No skin off my nose. As long as I get Kevin good tonight, I'll be happy."

Eddy placed his backpack on the floor.

"C'mon boys," said Eddy, "Let's get ready."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The sun had disappeared over the distant mountains around an hour ago, ushering in yet another brisk autumn night in the small, suburban community of Peach Creek. It was a clear night; in the absence of light pollution, the stars shined brightly, and the autumn and winter constellations of the northern hemisphere had begun the process of rising as they did every year. The cream colored glow of the moon shined brightly in the night sky. The disk had begun to wane to a gibbous, but still maintained prominence amongst the other celestial bodies, even as small whisps of dark clouds occasionally eclipsed it.

Outside the bounds of the residential community, all was eerily quiet. The woods themselves were quite expansive, extending for several hundred acres behind the junkyard, housing a swamp, hiking trails, state game lands, and of course several miles of the namesake creek.

The clock read 7:05 p.m. as the boys of Rethink avenue arrived at the entrance to the woods. After stopping at the convenience store to pick up waters, and batteries for their flashlights, they traversed through the trailer park, and made their way down a long, narrow trail of dirt, eventually finding themselves staring at a large wooden sign.

All five boys had prepared for this moment in their own way. Eddy had donned a black hoodie, as well as a grey skull cap, in an effort to protect himself from the cold air. He had also brought with him a brown backpack, containing refreshments, as well as his "bag-o-pranks" intended to be used on Kevin later that night. In addition he carried a camcorder in his arms, with intent to record the eventual ghost sighting.

Double Dee had donned a brown hounds tooth coat, in addition to his typical blue jeans. In his right hand, he cradled a first aid kit and in his left a yellow camping lantern for lighting purposes.

Ed had opted to outfit himself in his typical red and white striped shirt; however, he had ditched his green coat and blue jeans, replacing them with a pair of white coveralls (in fact the same coveralls used during the Eds "Hive-Bee-Gone" scam a few years ago). On his head, he wore the football helmet provided to him by May earlier in the week, as well as the shoulder pads. Lastly, he carried a wooden baseball bat in his hands for defense.

Over his green, long-sleeved shirt, Kevin wore a black leather jacket, not unlike that of Fonzie from Happy Days. In his right hand, he cradled a flashlight of his own; around his neck hung a photographic camera, secured to his body by a black strap.

The tall foreign boy Rolf had donned a black turtle neck sweater, in addition to his typical blue jeans. On his head, he wore a green Sherpa hat, as he stared fearfully toward the night sky. In his left hand, he carried a large dead fish, intended to be used as a weapon against the ghouls within.

As the boys made final preparations for entry into the woods via the hiking trail, Double Dee stared at the large wooden sign mounted on the side of the path:

(_Name obscured by moss) State Game Lands Number 13_

_Please Hunt Safely_

_No Motorized Vehicles_

_Hikers Welcome! _

_WARNING: Uneven Terrain, traverse at your own risk!_

"Perhaps we should reconsider," said Double Dee, "These appear to be state game lands, and we could easily be mistaken for game species by a sportsman. Not to mention the fact that the uneven terrain and low light level could lead to serious injury."

"Calm down Double Dee," said Eddy, "Deer season doesn't start until November, and you can only hunt during the day anyway. Besides, we got flashlights and spare batteries, the light ain't gonna be an issue."

"Yeah Double a Dork," said Kevin, "If ya wanna chicken out and go home, I ain't gonna stop you. Don't worry, we'll be over your house later tonight to put you to bed and reassure ya that the ghost ain't real."

Kevin and Eddy shared a playful laugh at the unamused Double Dee.

"Please, I know more than anyone that ghosts and ghouls are simple fairy tails," said Double Dee as he brandished his first aid kit, "I am just here to ensure that your foolish antics do not lead to unnecessary injury."

"Whatever you say," said Eddy, "You boys ready?"

Ed and Rolf remained still, gazing upon their surroundings with fear.

"Rolf's trembles serve as a reminder of the fear faced by his ancestors during the battle of the ripe tomatoes," said Rolf, "He must be strong, for the woman in white will not seek her revenge on Rolf. Push onward I say!"

At the conclusion of Rolfs statement, Ed lifted his bat into the air, pointing it in the direction of the trail.

"Take me to your leader evil woman!" yelled Ed.

Eddy laughed.

"I guess that's a yes," said the small boy as he began making his way down the path, "Alright boys, let's move out!"

At the conclusion of Eddy's statement, the boys proceeded to make their way down the trail, guided by the flashlights carried by Double Dee and Kevin. The gravel trail was lined with trees, and thick brush on both sides; the deep forest surrounding the trail gave off the illusion that the path was narrowing with each step. Between the tops of the nearly bare trees, the moon shined through, being darkened occasionally by clouds passing overhead. The woods were completely silent, sans the sound of the boys footsteps.

The boys observed their surrounding as they traversed deeper in the woods, each with an expression of uneasiness on their face. After a few moments of silence, Kevin decided to comment.

"Man, this place is pretty creepy at night." said Kevin.

"What's wrong?" asked Eddy, "Getting scared already?"

"No way Dorkie," said Kevin, "I ain't scared of..."

At that point, the sound of a snapping twig sounded from with the woods, stopping the boys in their tracks.

"What was that?" asked Kevin in a nervous manner, as Rolf and Ed brandished their weapons.

The boys continued to stare in the direction of the noise for a few moments, at which point Eddy placed his hand on Double Dee's back; proceeding to shove him in the direction of the noise.

"Go check it out Mop Top," said Eddy.

"Me?" asked Double Dee, "As I told you before, I am not actively participating in this ghost hunt, and as I recall your brevity is unquestionable."

"You're the one with the flashlight," said Eddy, "So it makes sense if you are the one to check it out!"

"Fine," said Double Dee as he made his way toward the side of the trail, aiming his flashlight into the woods. The boy proceeded to take a few steps off of the path, shining his flashlight as he did so. However, he was suddenly taken about by the sound of a squawk, as an avian animal suddenly flew past his face and up into the trees.

The sudden appearance of the bird caused the boys to jump backwards, and Ed and Rolf to share a fearful embrace. A few seconds passed, at which point Double Dee aimed his flashlight up into the tree, illuminating a medium-sized bird.

"Amazing," said Double Dee, "A perfect example of a common pheasant. This bird tends to build nests on ground level, while electing to roost in the trees during the night. We must have frightened the poor thing with our silly ghost hunt."

Double Dee shined the flashlight towards the ground, illuminating a small nest containing several eggs.

"How wonderful!" said Double Dee in an exuberant manner, "It's the miracle of life, a clutch of beautiful eggs just waiting to hatch into a nest of chirping baby birds."

Double Dee turned towards his friends.

"Come have a look everyone!" said Double Dee, "There's nothing to fear over here."

One by one, the boys proceeded to make their way over toward the nest, emitting curious "oohs" and "ahhhs" as Double Dee lectured them on avian behavior. However, the boys failed to notice that one of their brethren had decided not to join them. Eddy remained on the path, staring at the group with a playful yet sinister grin for a few moments, realizing he had the perfect opportunity to put his plan into action. The small boy slowly backed away into the woods on the opposite side of the trail, shrouding himself in the darkness as he did so.

A few seconds passed, at which point the remainder of the boys were roused from their bird watching excursion by the sound of Eddy's obnoxious voice.

"Help, help!" yelled Eddy, "Double Dee, Kevin, she's got me! She's gonna beat me to death with her sledgehammer, HELP!"

In a flash, all of the boys spring into action running in the direction of Eddy's voice.

"Eddy, Eddy!" yelled Double Dee as he whipped his flashlight around, attempting to locate his friend.

"Eddy!" yelled Kevin in a frantic manner, "Talk to me man, where are ya!"

Kevin shined his flashlight on a small log, located amidst a few berry bushes, attempting to locate his friend. After a few seconds of searching, a figure suddenly sprung up from behind the log, holding its arms in the air and yelling manically as it did so. It was clad in the same mask used to scare Jimmy earlier that day, and emitted the same goofy shriek heard a few years ago during a "Mucky Boy" attack.

Kevin of course was completely unamused and unaffected. He stared down into the diminutive figures face with a neutral expression for a few moments, at which point he grabbed hold of the top of the mask. With one swift motion, the jock proceeded to remove the mask, revealing the face of Eddy, frozen in a macabre expression.

"Nice try dork," said Kevin in a sarcastic manner

"Eddy!" yelled Double Dee, "Do you realize how much stress you just put me through? The manner in which you were shouting seemed to convey that you were injured, and falsifying injury is hardly ever a justifiable act."

Eddy groaned as he snatched the mask off of Kevin.

"Cheap shit," said Eddy as he tossed the mask into the woods.

"I told ya before, dork," said Kevin, "I ain't scared of nothin', you're gonna have to try harder than that to make me run."

"Whatever, Shovel Chin" said Eddy as he made his way back onto the path, "Just wait until we see the Ghost of Cobblers Peak. Then we'll see who's the bravest."

The boys continued on their way down the path in silence, continuing their search for the Ghost of Cobblers Creek. Little did they know, they were not alone in the woods. Around fifty yards away, Nazz and Marie had taken up post within the trees, hiding under the cover of the ground level brush, intent on executing their plan to scare the boys.

The girls had been on location for around an hour, setting up the "equipment" they had received from Jonny. From their position, Marie had rigged up a series of rope pulleys, attaching them to the tree branches hanging over the path. The pulleys were camoflouged with leaves, in an attempt to make them appear as simple vines. The ends terminated near Nazz's position, the intent being for her to take hold of the two ropes, alternatively pulling them back and forth to animate the tree branches.

Next to Nazz, Marie waited in a kneeling position. Earlier in the week, she secretly paid a visit to the seasonal Halloween costume store to pick up a "Bride of Frankenstein" costume, from which she harvested the dress and veil to form her own rendition of the Ghost of Cobblers Peak. The black haired girl had changed into the costume, in anticipation of the arrival of the boys.

"Do you think they're actually going to come this way?" asked Nazz.

"Sure they are," said Marie, "My dreamboat is by the book, and his nature won't allow he and his friends to leave the path unless he feels it's necessary. They'll be here in a few minutes."

"I hope so," said Nazz, "My butts getting sore from sitting on this rock, and I think I have a cobweb in my hair...GROSS!"

"Shush," said Marie in a quiet manner, "I can hear them coming, get ready!"

Nazz and Marie ducked down, attempting to be discrete as the sound of footsteps drew closer to their position. Sure enough the Rethink avenue boys, lead by Eddy, appeared from behind the trees, rounding the path as Double Dee and Kevin scanned their surroundings with their flashlights.

"This is going to be priceless..." whispered Marie, "Payback's a bitch."

The boys continued on their way, drawing closer to the girls position as they did so. In a matter of seconds, the boys were mere steps away from the tree that Nazz had rigged up with her pulley system.

At that point, Nazz proceeded to tug on the pulleys. The tree branches began to shake violently, causing the boys to stop in their tracks.

"What's that sound?" asked Eddy as he panned his eyes back and forth.

"It sounds as if leaves are rustling," said Double Dee, "Perhaps a slight autumns breeze?"

Kevin licked his index finger, holding it up in the air as if to check the wind.

"Guess again Dork," said Kevin with an expression of concern, "It ain't no breeze."

"Ed boys, look upward!" yelled Rolf, "The witch has summoned the wrath of nature, the vegetation is angered."

At the sound of Rolfs words, the four remaining boys glanced upward, at which point they took notice of the moving tree branches above. The wooden branches swayed violently, appearing as if they were reaching downward toward the boys; the low light levels heightening the illusion.

The five boys screamed at the sight of the "sentient" tree, at which point Eddy decided to plan their escape.

"Run for it boys!" yelled Eddy.

All five boys proceeded to turn around, intent on making a break back to the entrance of the hiking trail. However, the boys were barely able to accelerate to a trot; upon executing their about-face, they were met with the most unwelcome sight.

From within the bushes, the eery sound of a female voice filled the air; a moan that waxed and waned, piercing through the still silence of the woods. The boys watched as the Maiden herself rose from within the bushes, her white dress clearly visible under the moonlight. She proceeded to slowly walk down the trail in the direction of the boys, giggling maliciously and holding her arms outward as she did so.

The boys all remained silent, grasping each other in a brotherly embrace due to their shared fear.

"We...well boys," said Eddy, "It was nice knowing you!"

"I'm too young to die!" yelled Ed.

The maiden (Marie in disguise) continued to walk towards the boys giggling maliciously as she did so. However, in a matter of seconds, her evil feminine giggles were interrupted by an obnoxious scream.

"HIIIIIYYYYYAAAA!" yelled a rather deep and obnoxious feminine voice, with a slight adenoidal inflection.

At the sound of the scream, Marie glanced upward towards the source of the sound. Much to her surprise, a dark humanoid figure had jumped down from the trees; unfortunately, the figure had assumed the stance of a kick, it's black cleat on a direct collision course with her face.

Within seconds, Marie had been knocked to the ground with a drop kick to the face. Taken off guard and unable to react, the black haired girl was then taken by the shoulder and lifted into the air. The assailant proceeded to execute a suplex of sorts, throwing Marie over their back and onto the ground; a particular maneuver she was all too familiar with, as it was one that had been taught to her and her sisters by Rod as little girls.

Marie fell to her stomach, stunned and moaning in pain from the sudden attack. Without hesitation, the assailant dove on top of her, jamming their knee into her back. The attacker proceeded to contort Marie's arm into an awkward position, executing a common submission hold used by police officers to arrest their suspects.

As Marie writhed in pain, a familiar voice began to ring out from above; simultaneously, Double Dee shined his flashlight towards the scuffle, revealing the attacker to be none other than May.

"You demon spawn!" yelled an extremely angry May, "Don't you dare try to lay a hand on my Ed! Now I've got you, and I'm going to send you back to hell where you belong."

As the boys watched with surprise, Nazz rose from her position in the bushes, blowing her cover to rush to her friends aid.

"May!" yelled Nazz as she approached the girls, "Calm down and let go dude, it's not the ghost it's Marie."

"Marie?" asked May as she released her death grip, rising off of her sisters back with a melancholy expression.

"Yes...May..." said Marie in an irritated manner as she rose from the ground, rubbing her shoulder as she did so, "It's me."

At that point, Marie ripped the veil off of her face, revealing a highly irritated expression.

"Marie, Nazz?" asked Double Dee as he approached his girlfriend, "What are you two doing here?"

Marie pulled the fake dress up and over her head, revealing the blue hoodie she had opted to wear underneath.

"We were here to pull off the greatest Halloween prank ever!" said Marie, "Until my doofus of a sister had to step in and ruin it!"

"Whoops," said May, "Sorry!"

"By the way May," said Marie, "For what reason are we graced with your obnoxious presence? I thought you were helping Lee and Lindsay with their cross country team drills?"

May adopted saddened expression.

"I was, but I had to call it off," said May, "I was soooo worried about my Ed! God forbid if the Ghost actually got her hands on his poor innocent caring soul, I wouldn't know what to do. So I followed the guys in here, so I could personally make sure Ed was safe and sound."

As Marie let out a sigh, the heavily armored Ed stepped forward from his friends.

"May!" yelled Ed as he held his arms out, "Have no fear, for I am alright! Boy oh boy am I glad to see you!"

As May laid eyes on Ed, her bottom lip began to tremble. She suddenly dashed towards the tall boy.

"Oh Ed!" yelled May as she jumped up into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist as she kissed him repeatedly, "I was so worried about you you big cuddly teddy bear. I'm not leaving your side for the rest of the night."

The boys watched in silence as May continued her emotional onslaught. As Nazz and Marie made their way towards the boys, Eddy decided to comment on the situation.

"What the hell is this?" asked Eddy, "This is supposed to be a ghost hunt, not the ending of some cheesy love story!"

"Shut up!" yelled May as she gazed toward Eddy with an angry glare, "I've been worrying for too long, and I'm not leaving Ed's side for the rest of the night. So he's either coming home with me, or I'm staying with him."

Nazz giggled at Mays bold emotional display. She then proceeded to punch Kevin in the arm.

"So Kev," said Nazz, "Looks like you were pretty scared back there. Do ya need someone to come along and hold your hand?"

"You kiddin', said Kevin, "I knew it was fake all along."

"Sure you did," said Nazz as she took hold of her boyfriends hand, "Don't worry, I'll keep you safe."

Kevin groaned under his breath.

"Well since you are already here," said Kevin, "I guess the more the merrier."

"Yeah," said Marie as she took hold of Double Dee's hand, "Sorry for scaring you Dreamboat, it was pretty funny though don't ya think?"

"I suppose," said Double Dee as he smiled in the direction of his girlfriend.

As the three couples continued their romantic displays, Eddy groaned under his breath.

"Alright lovebirds," said Eddy, "Come on, let's keep on moving. The night is young, and we've got a ghost to hunt."

The group proceeded to continue on their way down the path in silence, preparing themselves for whatever mysteries were awaiting them deep within the woods.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

It had been a half-hour since the children of Peach Creek had launched their investigation, and the woman of the hour had still yet to announce her presence. As the kids continued their search, the moon slowly traveled across the sky, changing the incident angle of it's cream colored glow. The woods remained eerily quiet, sans the occasional sound of a small animal scurrying about.

Shortly after their meeting with the girls, the group decided to split up to cover more ground. This of course resulted in the couples separating amongst themselves, leaving Eddy to travel with the eccentric Rolf.

Within the woods, Kevin and Nazz had found their way to an area containing a modest sized tree that had fallen over at some point in the past. As the teenagers wandered through the darkness, on their way towards the fallen log with Kevin guided them by flashlight, they decided to initiate a conversation.

"Here's a good spot," said Kevin, "Wanna chill out here for a while?"

"Sure," said Nazz.

The teenagers made their way over to the log, at which point Kevin proceeded to lift Nazz up onto it using by placing his hands on her hips. Kevin followed suit, climbing onto the log and taking a seat onext to Nazz as if it were a bench.

"So are you gonna admit it?" asked Nazz with a smile.

"Admit what?" said Nazz.

"You know...?" said Nazz.

"Look babe, can we just forget about it," said Kevin, "It's been a long night."

"Nope," said Nazz in a playful manner, "You're gonna admit you were scared back there. Or I'm gonna show the video to the school."

"The video?" asked Kevin in a nervous manner.

"Yep, the video," said Nazz as she brandished her cell phone, "It's all right here, I'm sure the football team would love to see it!"

"C'mon babe," said Kevin as he attempted to grab the phone from Nazz, "You're not serious."

"I am," said Nazz, "Admit it with your own two lips, or everyone finds out. You'll go from being compared to Wendell Carson, to Jonny Bench."

Kevin glanced upon the cell phone with an expression of distress for a few moments, at which point the red headed boy finally caved.

"Okay, I admit it," said Kevin, "You got me, I was scared...but just for a few seconds."

Nazz giggled.

"Good boy," said Nazz in a flirty manner.

"Now, about the video..." said Kevin.

"Oh there's no video Kev," said Nazz, "Just a little technique I picked up to get what I want from a good friend last Christmas."

Kevin groaned, adopting an annoyed expression as he placed his hands on his knees, resting his chin in his palms as he did so. At that point, Nazz displayed an amorous grin, moving closer to the red headed boy as she did so.

"Well, since you finally admitted you were scared," said Nazz as she leaned into Kevin's ear, "How about we finish what I tried to start the last time we sat on a log like this...remember, when we chased the Eds to Eddy's brothers trailer?"

Kevin smiled, turning towards Nazz as he did so. In an instant, Nazz grabbed Kevin by the collar of his shirt, and proceeded to pull him downward. The teenagers disappeared behind the log, out of "sight" of the readers, beginning the process of who-knows-what.

Elsewhere, Double Dee and Marie shared their own walk through the woods. The two teenagers had managed to find the creek, and had taken their seat on a rock overlooking its banks. Although they were completely surrounded by trees, a small amount of moonlight managed to poke through their branches, reflecting off of the flowing waters in a beautiful shimmer.

Double Dee had placed his medical kit in the ground adjacent to the rock, just as Marie placed the duffle bag containing her costume next to her. As the two teenagers held hands, they immersed themselves in conversation.

"The waters beautiful isn't it Double Dee?" asked Marie.

"Absolutely", said Double Dee, "Just like your eyes."

"You don't know how much that meant to me," said Marie, "Giving me the money for my eye operation was the sweetest gift anyone could have given me, and it meant so much coming from you."

"Just as yours was as it pertains to me!" said Double Dee, "Now I can protect my brothers hat, while carrying an air of self confidence. I can't thank you enough!"

Marie placed her head on Double Dee's shoulder, at which point she squeezed his hand in hers.

"Kind of weird to be having such a sweet conversation with a ghost that wants to beat our skulls in walking around," said Marie.

Double Dee giggled.

"Oh yes," strange indeed," said Double Dee.

Marie rose up off of the rock, picking up a large tree branch off of the ground as she did so.

"I'm the big scary ghost bride!" said Marie in a flirty, yet shrill sounding voice, "I've come to kill the hottest guy in Peach Creek with my huge sledgehammer."

Double Dee laughed, deciding to play into Marie's joke.

"Oh no!" said Double Dee, "Help please! The Ghost of Cobblers Creek is Going to Kill Me!"

At that point Marie placed the stick in a horizontal position, brining it up to Double Dee chest. She proceeded to use it as a tool to pin the boy down on top of the rock, hovering over him as she smiled.

"But before I do," said Marie, "Just one final kiss."

Double Dee smiled as Marie slowly lowered her face towards his; however, just before she initiated lip contact, a slight sound emanated from within the woods behind them. The sound was that of a slight, indecipherable whisper, causing the two teenagers to turn their attention toward the source.

"What was that?" asked Marie as she rose back upward to a standing position.

"I'm not quite sure," said Double Dee as he grabbed hold of his flashlight, "A small mammal perhaps?"

As Marie remained standing near the rock, Double Dee took a few steps towards the trees to investigate. Marie watched as Double Dee shined his flashlight into the woods, panning it around slightly as she did so.

As Marie watched her boyfriend investigate the noise, a nervous feeling suddenly appeared within her stomach. This feeling was brought up by the sudden occurrence of another freighting sound; words in the whisper register that seemed to come from directly over her shoulder.

_Marie..._

At the sound of the words, Marie suddenly whipped around, attempting to locate the source of the noise. As her heart raced, she clutched her chest with her right hand while emitting a slight yelp, surveying her surroundings as she did so. To her surprise, there was nobody standing behind her, only the darkness of the deep forest and the flowing waters of the small creek.

At the sound of Marie's miniature scream, Double Dee whipped the flashlight aroundin the direction of Marie.

"Marie, are you alright?" asked Double Dee, "You appear as if you have seen a ghost."

"I'm fine," said Marie, "I think I'm just hearing things."

"Psychosomatic auditory hallucinations I suppose," said Double Dee, "Or perhaps your ears have produced an over abundance of wax as they had last summer?"

"Maybe," said Marie as she used her palm in an attempt to clear her right ear, "You think you could check?"

"Certainly," said Double Dee as he made his way back towards the rock, "I have all of the proper tools inside my handy dandy first aid kit."

Upon reaching the rock, Double Dee bent down to retrieve his medical bag. However, to his surprise, the small case was no longer where he had placed it, causing the boy to adopt a perplexed expression.

"Hmmm," said Double Dee, "How unusual."

"What's that?" asked Marie as she turned towards Double Dee.

"My medical bag has gone missing," said Double Dee, "You didn't alter its location since we arrived at this rock, have you?"

"Nope," said Marie as she stroked her left ponytail, " I haven't touched it. Are you sure you didn't leave it back where we found you guys?"

"I couldn't have," said Double Dee, "I was using my medical bag as a storage space for my flashlight! I retrieved it from the bag just after you attempted to kiss me."

The two teenagers shared a concerns expression, at which point the sound of a stone falling into the water emanated from behind Double Dee, causing the boy to turn towards the source of the sound. As the intelligent adolescent stared into the water, he suddenly heard Marie call his name from behind in a whisper, causing him to turn back towards the black-haired girl.

"Yes Marie?" asked Double Dee.

"I beg your pardon?" asked Marie.

"You just called my name, didn't you?" asked Double Dee.

"No..." said Marie in an uncertain manner.

At that point, the sound of a twig snapping emanated from within the woods, directly in front of the teenagers, causing them to stare forward with wide eyes.

"Double Dee," said Marie, "Something very strange is going on here..."

"I concur," said Double Dee, "But I am sure there is an explanation..."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Elsewhere in the woods Eddy had taken a seated position on a late tree stump. He sat still, his knees hanging over the sides of the stump as he rested his elbows on top of them; his cheeks rested within his palms.

The adolescent appeared quite bored with his current situation. For the last fifteen minutes, Rolf had paced back and forth in front of the stump, spinning a long, drawn out tale regarding his families traditions regarding the spiritual word. As the boy continued to act out his story, using his flashlight as a makeshift sword, Eddy flicked his on and off repeatedly out of boredom.

Even deeper in the woods, Eddy's camcorder had been briefly given to Ed for use over the next half hour. The boy had mounted the digital camera on a tripod (retrieved from hammer space within his duffle bag) and set it up a few feet away from a dead oak tree. With the flip of a switch Ed activated the cameras record feature, and proceeded to speak into the camera at close range; so close in fact, that the only thing visible in the view finder was his right eye.

"Ladies and gentlemen," said Ed, attempting to imitate television shows in which contestants film themselves in a fearful situation, (a video diary of sorts), "We are on hour two..."

"Ed, back up," whispered the voice of May from behind the camera.

"Huh," said Ed, his mouth now encompassing the entirety of the shot.

"Back up, you're too close," whispered May.

"Oh, okie dokie, Dr. Kanker!" said Ed as he proceeded to move away from the camera, until only his head was in the shot, "Okay?"

May made the okay sign with her right hand from behind the camera, at which point Ed continued where he left off.

"We are on hour two, and still no sign of the demon in white," said Ed, "Me and my girlfriend will continue to wait in anticipation of her attack, ready and waiting to defend our mortal souls from descent into deep darkness."

"Yeah," said May as she jumped into the frame next to Ed, "It's dark and scary out here...plus we're out of snack sized Chunky Puffs!"

"What lies in this darkness, tricks full of ill will?" asked Ed "How much longer can this go on!"

Both teenagers paused for a brief instant, at which point Ed continued.

"We'll continue to report as needed," said Ed, "Hopefully, we will survive until dawn, when daylight will dissolve the dominatrix and send her back into the area between worlds. This is Big Ed and Little May, signing out."

At that point, Ed pressed the cameras red function button, ceasing the recording session. As he did so, he proceeded to fall to a seated position, intent on resting his hard working legs. May followed suit, taking a seat next to her boyfriend while placing her head on his shoulder and grabbing her hand in his.

"Ed," said May, "Do you really think the Ghost exists?"

"I dunno," said Ed as he continued staring forward, "I've always believed in ghosts, but I've never actually saw one."

Ed turned towards May.

"How about you?" asked Ed.

"I surely hope she isn't real," said May in a nervous manner, "I mean, I'd like to survive to be fourteen."

"Have no fear my Little May," said Ed as he placed his arms around Mays shoulders, "You are in no danger, it is me who she wants cause I'm a boy. Besides, she hasn't even made her presence known using the signs Eddy talked about in his story, so I don't think..."

At that point, the sound of creeping wood sounded from above the two teenagers, as if something or someone were moving about on the tree branches above.

"Ed," said May as she clutched her boyfriend, "Did you just hear that?"

"Yeah..." said Ed.

The two teenagers remained silent holding each other in fear, at which point a voice emanated from with the woods. The voice seemed to come from no particular direction, and was in the form of a small chuckle.

"She's here..." whispered May.

At that point, Ed retrieved a small voice recorder (like those commonly used to obtain news interviews or EVPs on ghost hunting shows). Using his thumb, he depressed the small side mounted button, and lifted the device to his mouth.

"Um, yeah, this is Ed," said Ed, "Me and May are trapped in the bowels of the woods, struggling to keep our wits about us as the maiden taunts us from deep within. I can only hope this recording can be preserved to aid any future, unfortunate victims and...

"Forget the recording..." said May in a frightened manner as she pointed upward towards one of the adjacent trees, "Look up there!"

Ed gazed upward, at which point his eyes widened with surprise. The tree, located a few feet away from Ed and Mays location, had a slight bend in it's trunk. This caused the tree to appear to be bending towards them; coupled with the fact that some of the branches had come loose and hung freely, provided the illusion that the tree was reaching down to grab them. Lastly, within a small circular hallow, two glowing yellow-green orbs emanated from within, providing the appearance of menacing yellow eyes.

The two teenagers proceeded to let out a surprised scream, clutching each other tightly as they did so. However, their fears quickly came to rest; with a slight scratch, the head of a small rodent emerged from within the darkness of the hollow. The creature rested its claws on the edge of the wood as it stared towards the teenagers, the whiskers adorning it's cubby cheek pouches moving at rapid pace as it sniffed. Unfortunately, when within the hollow, the moonlight combined with the creatures tapetum lucidum (an organ in the back of nocturnal animals eyes that reflects light, allowing them to see in low light condition) gave the appearance of menacing demonic eyes.

May breathed a sigh of relief.

"Whew," said May, "I thought we were goners!"

"Yeah," said Ed as he rose from his seated position, making his way towards the hollow, "Mr. Rodent, you really scared us back there!"

As Ed examined the creature, giggling dopily as he did so, May made her way to her boyfriends side with a smile.

"He is cute," said May as she reached down towards him, "Hey Mr. Rodent, my name is May!"

Suddenly, without warning, the mouse turned and retreated back into the tree as if it were frightened.

"Huh, I guess he's scared too," said Ed.

"Yeah...," said May, "At least we aren't the only ones."

Ed and May remained still, staring at the tree for a few moments, at which point the slight sound of leaves rustling began from within the trees. The rustles were that of a rhythmic nature, as if an individual was slowly walking through the piles of loose leaves on the ground. The footsteps paced around the woods for around ten seconds, suddenly ceasing just as quickly as they came.

Both boy and girl slowly turned towards each other, sharing fearful expressions as they did so.

"I think we should go find everyone else," said Ed.

""Yeah," said May, "Good idea."

The two teenagers joined hands, and proceeded to perform an about face; intent on making their way through the woods back to their friends. However, the two teenagers were immediately brought to a complete stop, with expressions of fear appearing on their faces as they did so.

Directly in front of the two teenagers, floating at their eye level, was a disembodied head. The head appeared to be that of a zombies; its gruesome green skin was torn in several places, and a portion of its bald scalp appeared to have been stitched together. It's eyes were solid white, giving off an expression of despair. It's lips were missing, allowing both its top and bottom teeth to show with a maniacal grin.

Both teenagers let out a scream at the sight of the gruesome floating head, their eyes popping out of their head in a cartoonish fashion as they did so. In an instant, Ed grabbed hold of Mays hand, and proceeded to pull her in the opposing direction. The two teenagers ran through the trees for around fifty yards, jumping over logs and weaving around stumps as they did so.

Eventually, they came upon a wide dead tree, the interior of which appeared to have been rotted out. The trunk extended a measly ten feet into the air, the top portion of the tree haven fallen off at some time in the past, leaving a splintered hole. At the bottom, near the root system was a large hole, allowing access to the interior of the tree. Wasting no time, the two teenagers decided to take advantage of the situation; May dove towards the tree as if she were sliding towards home plate during a softball game, with just barely enough momentum to carry her inside.

After ensuring May was secure inside their shelter, Ed proceeded to attempt entry into the tree. Unfortunately, the hole was too small for the large framed boy.

"Oh no!" yelled Ed as he made a few futile attempts to pull his body into the tree, "I can't move...I'm stuck!"

"C'mon Ed!" yelled May as she grabbed hold of her boyfriends shirt collar, attempting to free him from the confines of his wooded prison, "We're in this together, we're a team!"

"Save yourself!" yelled Ed in a dramatic fashion, "I'll stay back and be the bait for the evil witch, climb out of the top and find the others."

"No," yelled May as she climbed towards the top of the interior of the tree, placing her black cleat on a piece of torn bark for leverage. She continued to pull Ed's arms, attempting to free him with all of her might, "We're a team, and we always will be, I'll never let you go!"

As May continued in her futile attempts to free Ed, an eery silence suddenly filled the area. This was soon followed by the same, pitter patter that had been heard before; however, this time the sounds were accompanied by the soft, gentle sound of a female voice, chanting to the tune of the "wedding march"

_Here comes the bride...here comes the bride._

At that moment, Mays eyes widened as she stared into the woods from her position atop the wooded hallow. Around thirty feet from her position, a ghostly figure emerged from behind a large tree, dressed completely in white. The face was completely shrouded by a white veil, and it's arms were covered with white evening gloves. The figure hobbled slowly towards Mays position, continuing to hum the wedding march as it did so.

May remained completely still, paralyzed with fear as she continued to stare in the direction of the entity.

"May!" yelled Ed, "What's wrong?"

"Ed..." said May in a whisper as she released one of his hands, using her hand to point in the direction of the ghost. She then raised her voice to a volume comparable to a jet turbofan, her adenoidal inflections being most prominent.

"IT'S THE GHOST OF COBBLERS PEAK!" yelled May at the top of her lungs.

At that moment, May let out an ear piercing, extremely high pitched, girlish scream. The scream seemed to emit a shock wave through the woods, vibrating the trees as it did so in a cartoonish fashion, propagating for what seemed like hundreds of yards.

On the banks of the creek, Double Dee and Marie were jarred from their thoughts by the sound of Mays scream. The two shared a brief glance of concern, at which point the simultaneously proceeded to rush towards the source of the noise.

Elsewhere in the woods, the scream attracted the attention of Nazz who proceeded to poke her head up from behind the log she and Kevin had been using as a "hiding spot". In an instant, the blonde girl jumped out from behind the log, and proceeded to dash in the direction of the scream; simultaneously reaching up into her shirt to readjust her bra, which had been moved from it's intended position. A few seconds passed, at which point Kevin slowly rose from behind the log as if he were floating. A sultry smile adorned his face as he slowly zippered and buttoned his blue jeans, and proceeded to follow in girlfriend in a much more lackadaisical manner.

The scream had also piqued the interest of Eddy and Rolf. Eddy jumped down from his seated position on the stump, and proceeded to run towards the source of the noise as well, his tall foreign friend following with an expression of determination.

As May ceased her obnoxious scream, her remaining six friends finally managed to make their way to their position.

"May," said Nazz, panting and slightly out of breath, "What's wrong?"

"T...t...that!" said May as she pointed in the direction of the woods.

The entire group turned simultaneously, at which point they laid eyes on the hobbling undead bride. The ghost appeared to wobble, as if she were hinged in the center, continuing to awkwardly walk in the direction of the group with outstretched arms.

The entire group let out a simultaneous scream, at which point Kevin and Eddy began to attempt to free Ed from the tree. As the boys worked on prying away the dry, rotting wood, the remaining girls, as well as Rolf, proceeded to huddle together, shaking with fear as they observed the bride make her approach.

Double Dee however, appeared quite unamused. Years of being the lead "engineer" of Eddy's pranks and scams had allowed him to develop a fine eye for charades, and his logical nature only heightened his ability to discern reality from illusion.

"Please," said Double Dee as he backed away, disappearing into the trees.

With one final crack, Eddy and Kevin freed Ed from his woody prison, allowing the Ed boy to rise to a standing position. He joined his friends in their huddle as the ghost bride continued to approach the group, singing the wedding march as she did so.

"Well boys," said the bride in a menacing, high pitched voice, "Time to say goodnight!"

The group continued to scream following the ghosts cryptic words, some closing their eyes in anticipation of their deaths. However, their fears were soon put to rest for Double Dee had managed to sneak behind the distracted phantom. The intelligent adolescent had placed his foot on the tail of the ghostly maidens dress, trapping it between his shoe and the leaf covered ground. The forward motion of the maiden caused the dress to be ripped free of her body, along with her veil; revealing none other than Jimmy and Sarah.

Jimmy had mounted Sarah's shoulders, acting as the arms and voice of the phantom while Sarah acted as the feet. The children were quite surprised at their sudden reveal; accordingly, they had stopped in their tracks, appearing frozen in time as deer did when trapped in the headlights.

"Here's your phantom," said Double Dee in a sarcastic manner.

"Sarah! Jimmy!" yelled the entire group simultaneously.

"Who invited the squirts!?" asked Eddy.

"Nobody invited us fish face!" yelled Sarah as she lowered Jimmy to the ground, "We just decided to show up to give you and your idiot friends some payback for deciding to scare poor Jimmy!"

Double Dee giggled.

"I supposed you succeeded," said Double Dee.

Sarah turned towards Double Dee, delivering him a slight flirty smile (due to her crush on the slim boy), Jimmy then decided to interject.

"And the Oscar goes to me!" said Jimmy as he placed his thumb to his chest, "A fabulous performance, but I couldn't have done it without you, right girlfriend?"

Jimmy placed his hand on Sarah's shoulder, at which point the small red head decided to respond.

"We sure did Jimmy," said Sarah, "We showed these stupid boys not to mess with us!"

As Sarah and Jimmy shared a hug, both Kevin and Eddy emitted a long drawn out groan.

"Finally I thought we would have some action," said Eddy, "But it turns out it's just another dud! Geez, I'm more scared now that you took off the mask!"

Eddy laughed as Sarah shot him an extremely angry glare.

"Of course I knew from the start," said Eddy, "Everybody that's tried to pull pranks on us didn't even do it right!"

Eddy proceeded to move towards a rock, positioned in the middle of a few small trees that formed something of a semicircle; all of which leaned slightly towards the center.

"I mean, shaking the trees to make them seem alive, how amateur," said Eddy, "If I was the prankster, I'd figure out a way to rig these babies up so that they looked authentic. The trees are supposed to come alive ya know, and ya gotta make it look real."

At that point, Eddy turned his back towards the trees, in an effort face his friends. At the same time, a faint orange glow appeared within the hollows of the trees, illuminating them as if they were Jack-o-Lanterns. To the groups surprise, a few of the hollows took the form of evil faces, contorted into hideous expressions of fear and pain.

As the trees began to illuminate, the remainder of the group adopted expressions of shock surprise. Eddy, oblivious to what was happening behind him, continued to stare at his friends with a cocky look, as the once again unamused Double Dee decided to speak up.

"Haha Eddy," said Double Dee, "I suppose you are referring to the display taking place behind you. Get real Eddy, anyone with a common knowledge of fiber optic technology can pull off reasonable special effects such as that."

"What?" asked Eddy as he proceeded to whip around towards the trees.

As the small Ed boy turned, the lights within the trees suddenly vanished, as if attempting to trick the boy.

"Okay Eddy," said Double Dee, "Enough of these foolish charades."

Double Dee proceeded to make his way towards Eddy's position.

"I propose we ditch this silly ghost hunt and head back to out nice cozy neighborhood," said Double Dee, "We can stop at the convenience store for some hot chocolate, and enjoy it within the confines of my living room, my treat. What do you say?"

As Double Dee approached the small boy, Eddy noticed movement over his black-haired friend shoulder. He watched with concern as a branch descended from within the darkness of the tree. The branch appeared like any other, but seemed quite prehensile, moving as if it were a human arm. The branch extended it's "index finger", delivered a tap onto Double Dee's shoulder, and retreated back into the darkness just as quickly as it came.

Eddy snickered as Double Dee turned around towards his friends, anticipating one of his comrades to be standing behind him.

"Oh I see how it is," said Eddy with a grin, "You're just mad that I'm the prank master of Peach Creek, and you want a cut of the action. I'll admit, that was pretty cool what you just did with the branch."

"I have done no such thing," said Double Dee, "As I stated before, I refuse to be a part of your silly charade."

"Not that it matters," said Eddy, "Nobody knows the Ghost like I do, so even trying to prank me won't do you any good."

At that point, a the soft sound of a feminine hum began to sound from behind the small Ed boy; the hum was in the tune to the popular lullaby "Hush Little Baby", sung in a soft, deliberate and barely audible manner.

"Oh come on Marie," said Eddy as he glanced towards the middle Kanker sister "You tried that already and it didn't work, at least you got the tune right this time."

"Hey don't put this on me!" snarled Marie, "That ain't me humming."

Eddy then panned to each female member of the group, questioning each as the humming continued.

"May?" asked Eddy.

"Uh uh," said May as she shook her head.

"Nazz?" asked Eddy.

"Negative," said Nazz.

"Sarah?" asked Eddy, becoming increasingly nervous as he did so.

"You wish," responded Sarah in a nasty manner.

"Well someone is humming, and it ain't me!" yelled Eddy.

As Eddy delivered his statement, the groups eyes widened with fear as they detected movement from atop the small rock formation behind Eddy. They watched as a female figure slowly rose from behind the rock, as if she were hovering in the air. After a few seconds, the females feet reached to the level of the rock, at which point she ceased rising.

The group examined the entity in complete silence; once again, the familiar figure of the Ghost of Cobblers Peak stood a few feet in front of them. However, this particular incarnation appeared much more authentic than the previous two. The figures body was completely covered with a frilly white dress, sans the area of her chest and her upper arms. The dress, while chock full of beautifully stitched patterned designs, was peppered with several stains of red, as if blood had been spilled on it during a traumatic past event.

On her arms, she wore a pair of white evening gloves, both tattered and torn as if they had been through several intense scuffles. Their white satin finish was covered with the same blood stains that adorned the dress itself, although they were much more prominent. The woman's face was completely covered by a white veil, obscuring her face. From behind the figure, a small beam of light seemed to shine, apparently being emanated from the ghostly apparition causing her to appear translucent; just as a ghost should. In addition, in contrast to the previous two incarnations encountered by the group, this particular entity lived up to her story in the size department; the figure completely dwarfed the 5'2" tall Eddy, standing at a height of roughly 6'5". Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, the figure cradled a large wooden stick in her hands; the end of which brandished a large, rusty, blood-covered hammer head.

Eddy, oblivious to the fact that the maiden was standing behind him, stared at his frightened friends with a confused stare.

"Alright, knock it off guys," said Eddy as the bride continued to hum while standing behind him, "There ain't nothing or nobody, standing behind me."

At that point Eddy closed his eyes and turned abruptly as he displayed an overconfident grin. As he reopened his eye lids, his face transformed from that of arrogance into one of extreme fear, as he came face to face with the spirit herself.

In an instant, the maiden raised her sledgehammer into air, brandishing the weapon as if she were a Tusken Raider. As she did so, a red glow emanated through her somewhat transparent veil in the areas of her eyes, lighting up in the form of two angry shaped slits.

At that moment, Eddy let out an obnoxious scream, and proceeded to run in the opposite direction. All of his comrades followed suit, running as fast as they could through the woods, attempting to seek safety from their new and real tormentor.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

The kids of Rethink Avenue ran as fast as they could through the dark and crowded woods, hurdling over logs, downed branches, and through several layers of shrubbery. While all of the kids took a slightly different path, they remained together, recognizing the benefit of maintaining large numbers.

Eventually, the group came to a group of large trees, surrounding swampy quagmire, where the group decided to stop to catch their breath and take refuge. As Eddy rested his back on one of the large, hollowed trees, he decided to comment on the situation.

"Okay,' said Eddy, "This is bad."

"You think?" asked Kevin, as he took a seat on a stump, holding Nazz in his arms as he did so, "I take back everything I said about you guys being scared, that was just too real!"

"We're gonna die at the hands of the Ghost Bride!" yelled May in a distraught manner as she buried her head into Ed's chest.

"Alright, alright," said Double Dee as he clutched his ribs, attempting to fight a stitch that had sprung up, "I'll admit, we have just witnessed something highly unusual...a seemingly transparent and ethereal form of a woman wearing white with glowing red eyes. I have no qualms expressing my fear regarding our current state of events, but we have to pull our heads together and logically analyze our situation. I'm sure there's an explanation."

"Sure there is," said Eddy as he scanned the area, "The Ghost Of Cobblers Peak is following us, and we're going to be her next victims!"

At the conclusion of Eddy's statement, Jimmy let out a high pitched scream. Simultaneously, Ed and May embraced one another in a tight squeeze, fearfully surveying their surroundings.

"Okay," said Double Dee, "Even in the highly unlikely event that there is not some sort of logical explanation for any of this, and there is actually a murderous specter on the loose, we should still keep calm, ensure that everyone is accounted for, and attempt to find a way back to the trail."

Double Dee paused for a few moments, prior to continuing.

"The low light level is impeding my ability to make visual contact," said Double Dee, "So I will proceed to call each of your names, one-by-one, at which point I respectfully request a response confirming your presence."

In sequence, Double Dee called out the names of all his friends, awaiting affirmation of their presence between each recitation. After finishing off with himself, he decided to continue his attempt at the assumption of a leadership role.

"Excellent," said Double Dee, "Now continuing to take advantage of the skills we have been blessed with, I would like to nominate Rolf as our official navigation scout."

"Rolf fails to understand your proposition," said Rolf, peeking his head out from under the brush he was currently hiding in, "Rolf is no leader, his honor has been shamed. This son-of-Shepard has let down all of Rolfs ancestors with his meager display of cowardice."

"Not necessarily," said Double Dee, "You are an Urban Ranger as I recall, and have successfully earned the merit badge for field survival. I believe you would be the best candidate to lead us back to the path."

"Oh sure," said Eddy, "Rolf might have the tracking skills to get us out of here, but ain't gonna help if our heads are beaten in!"

Suddenly, much to Eddy's surprise, a voice seemed to project from within the tree he was leaning on; once again in the tone a soft feminine whisper.

_I can arrange that for you_

At that moment, the tree suddenly sprouted a pair of wooden arms from the side of its decrepit trunk. The arms appeared no different than ordinary branches, although much like before, they were completely prehensile. Before Eddy could react, the arms quickly closed around him, trapping him in a proverbial bear hug and immobilizing the boy. As the trees grip tightened, the branches interlocked their "fingers" in front of the area of Eddy's naval, reinforcing their grip.

"Aaaahhh," yelled Eddy, "Someone help me, the tree is trying to kill me!"

"Oh no, it's worse than I thought!" said Ed, "It's a Tree Hugger!"

"Daddy always said Tree Huggers were evil!" yelled May in frantic voice.

"Eddy!" yelled Double Dee as he ran towards his friend, grabbing a hold of his feet in an attempt to pull him out of the trees grasp.

"Have no fear small fry Ed boy!" yelled Rolf as he grabbed hold of Eddy's opposite leg.

The resulting battle was a three second game of tug-of-war between the boys and the demon tree for possession of Eddy. In the midst of the struggle, Eddy was cartoonishly stretched to twice the normal length of his body, at which point the tree finally released it's grip. This action caused Eddy's body to suddenly return back to its original configuration as if he were a spring, the recoil knocking Double Dee and Rolf to the ground.

The boys regained their senses, at which point they turned back toward the tree. With the sound of a malicious, feminine giggle, the arms retracted back into the tree, disappearing from view.

"She's everywhere," yelled Eddy in a highly frightened intonation, "There's no where to run, no where to hide. She'll find us every time."

"Calm your nerves Eddy," said Double Dee, "I'm sure that with a small amount of analysis..."

"Screw that science!" yelled Eddy, "I gotta get outta here!"

At that point Eddy turned in the opposite direction of Double Dee, and began running as fast as his little feet would take him. In a matter of seconds, the remaining kids, sans Double Dee, followed suit, running off in seemingly random directions and disappearing into the trees.

"My friends, mass hysteria won't solve anything!" yelled Double Dee, attempting to coax his friends to stay nearby, "There is strength in numbers, and if we wish to succeed, we need to stick together."

At the conclusion of Double Dee's statement, a faint feminine voice called out from behind in a sultry intonation.

_You should take your own advice..._

Double Dee turned around, displaying an expression of fear as he gazed upward. To his horror, he came face-to-face with the ghost bride herself. Her red eyes were no longer glowing, the featureless white veil being the only item reminiscent of a face. As Double Dee made eye contact with the entity, she slowly began to lift the sledgehammer over her head, snickering as she did so.

"Hush little baby..." said the Ghost in a quiet tone.

At that point Double Dee let out a long, blood curdling scream as his eyes widened to twice their normal radius. The smart Ed boy promptly turned, and began running, escaping just before the ghost brought down the hammer. In lieu of it's intended victim, the hammer struck a modest sized tree branch that had fallen to the ground, causing the wood to split with an audible crunch.

Double Dee continued to hustle through the woods, as the sound of the ghosts maniacal laughing rang out from behind him. As he continued to dash through the trees, the laughter seemed to die down in amplitude, as the distance between the attacker and Double Dee grew.

As Double Dee continued to jog, he decided to take a peak behind him in an effort to ensure that he was not being pursued. However, his decision to turn his head while running proved to be a mistake, as his foot became ensnared within a rogue vine, growing on the forest floor.

In an instant, the slim boys forward momentum caused him to hurdle belly first towards the forest floor, his face landing in a pile of autumn colored leaves.

Surprised by his sudden tumble, Double Dee remained on his stomach for a few seconds, attempting to regain his senses. A few moments passed, at which point he slowly returned to a standing position, scanning his surroundings as he did so.

To his great fortune, the calm yet eery silence characteristic of the woods had returned. The maniacal laughing of the maiden had vanished, and there was no sign of the phantoms presence within the general area.

Double Dee spent a few moments brushing a few loose leaves off of his coat, removing a small twig that had become lodged within his sleeve in the process. He then proceeded to remove a small pen sized flashlight (not unlike those commonly used by optomologists to examine pupilary response) from his coat pocket. With the click of a button, a small beam of light began to shine from its tip, and while the lighting was no where near as intense as that generated by the campers lamps, it was quite sufficient for navigation purposes.

Double Dee proceeded to take a few steps forward, panning the light in front of him as he did so. The sweep of the light beam was far from smooth; due to being shaken up by his encounter with the phantom, Double Dees hand had developed a tremor, causing the beam of light to dart erratically amongst the trees.

As the boy continued taking slow, deliberate steps, he uttered a few words to himself.

"Oh dear," said Double Dee, "Up the creek without a proverbial paddle..."

Double Dee continued to slowly make his way deeper into the woods, weaving between trees and thick brush as he did so. As he walked, he began to quietly call out for his friends.

"Marie...Eddy...", said Double Dee in a bold, yet soft tone, "Is anyone out there?"

At that point, the sound of leaves rustling as well as a sound of snapping wood filled the air. Double Dee turned towards the source of the sound, which appeared to come from with heavy brush located to his left. A few seconds passed, at which point he began to make his way toward the brush cover, attempting to train his flashlight on the general area.

As the boy continued to walk toward the bushes, the sound of rustling continued, growing ever louder as he approached. In an instant Double Dees fears were put to rest; as the boy neared the foliage, a small fox emerged from within, slightly startling the boy. The fox stared at Double Dee for a few seconds, at which point the animal darted behind one of the many trees surrounding his position. The sight of the forests natural fauna seemed to relax the intelligent boy, momentarily putting thoughts of the Ghostly Maiden out of his mind.

However, this momentary bliss was quite short lived, for at that instant a dark figure suddenly arose from within the bushes adjacent to Double Dees position, startling the boy half to death.

Double Dee!" yelled the voice of Ed, who seemed to sudden pop out of the bushes as if he were a jack in the box.

Of course, this action caused Double Dee to scream at the top of his lungs, jumping into the air as he did so.

"Ed, my goodness!" yelled Double Dee, "You scared me half to death!"

"Boy oh boy I'm so glad I found you !" yelled Ed as he squeezed Double Dee in a tight bear hug. "Everyone is gone, including my Little May, I can only hope she didn't get snatched by the evil witch!"

"I'm sure she's fine Ed," said Double Dee, barely able to breath due to Eds squeeze.

After a few seconds, Ed released Double Dee, placing he slim boy ack on his feet; allowing him to catch his breath.

"Unfortunately, this is the exact situation I was attempting to avoid," said Double Dee, "Now all of our friends are missing, possibly alone, forced to face this enigma without the help of their loved ones."

Double Dee turned towards Ed.

"I suppose the first thing we need to do is to locate the others," said Double Dee, "Have you found any trace of our friends presence?"

"Yep," said Ed, "I found Eddy, he's over here under this log. I don't think he's feeling so well."

"My word, is he injured?" asked Double Dee as he proceeded to make his way through the brush in an attempt to aid his diminutive friend.

Upon passing through the brush, Double Dee came to a small clearing. Directly ahead of him, a tall rock formation overlooked the area; the namesake Cobblers Peak. The cliffs wrapped around, forming a corner of sorts; tucked into this corner was a large tree trunk, sitting diagonally against the rock as if it were the roof of a lean-to.

Wasting no time, Double Dee bolted across the clearing in the direction of the log. The break in tree cover allowed much more moonlight to bathe the ground, allowing the adolescent to navigate without the aid of a flashlight.

Sure enough, Eddy had taken a seated position underneath the fallen log, just as Ed had described. The small Ed boy sat against the rocky cliff, his knees brought to his chest with his arms wrapped around them in a proverbial fetal position. An expression of anxiety adorned his face as he rocked back and forth in a panic.

As Double Dee approached his friends position, he proceeded to kneel down in an effort to maintain eye contact.

"My word Eddy, are you alright?" asked Double Dee.

"Am I okay?" asked Eddy as he suddenly reached out, grabbing Double Dees shirt collar, "Sure I am, I just got grabbed by a man eating tree and almost bludgeoned to death by a murdering ghost bride. Everything's peachy keen."

Eddy stood up, making his way out from under the log as he did so. As he continued to speak, he began pacing back and forth.

"How could this happen?" asked Eddy, "There's no way the story could be true, it's just a stupid myth I heard from my dad. This was just supposed to be a night for me to prank Kevin, I never expected any of this!"

"Rest assured, there is a simple solution to all of this," said Double Dee, "While I must admit that the events we have witnessed were farfetched and seemed paranormal in nature, with a bit of analysis I am sure we can unravel this mystery and come up with a logical explanation."

"Oh sure," said Eddy, "Can you explain why we could see through the ghost?"

"Well uh," said Double Dee, struggling to get his words out.

"Or the fact that the trees were able to reach out and grab us?" asked Eddy.

"Well alright, I'll admit that it is a tough nut to crack," said Double Dee, "But I am one hundred percent positive that there is nothing paranormal in nature about any of this. The legend of the Ghost of Cobblers Peak is simply that, a legend. There is no ghost, there are no sentient trees, and most importantly the horrendous story of the murder/suicide committed by this questionable maiden is nothing more than an amplified campfire story."

"Uh...uh...guys," said Ed as he adopted an expression of fear, struggling to get his words out.

"Yes Ed?" asked Double Dee as he turned toward his friend.

Ed, trembling with fear, slowly lifted his arm toward the sky, pointing his index finger as he did so. His action prompted his two best friends to turn their attention upward, at which point they were met with a gruesome discovery.

Within the leaveless trees surrounding the clearing, directly below the cliffs, was what appeared to be a mass of mangled metal. Upon closer inspection, one could make out the body style of a 1970's Ford Pickup truck. The metal body of the vehicle was rusted in several places, standing out against the faded blue paint. The wood panels mounted to the side of the rear bed had dry rotted, as had the tires adorning the rusty rims. The vehicle was pointed in a slightly downward position, as if it had descended from the cliff above. The grille was completely smashed in, as if it had experienced a violent impact prior coming to a rest between the cliff and the splintered tree branches.

Unfortunately, the sight of the damaged pickup truck was not the center of the boys attention; a few branches down from the pickup truck, a piece of green fabric, sporting a flannel pattern, waved in the autumn breeze as if it were a flag. The fabric was tattered and heavily soiled, and was in the farm of a one piece farm dress. To the boys horror the article was not merely draped, nor caught on the tree branch; rather the branch passed directly through the area of the chest as if it had been impaled on the sharp outcropping.

All three boys stared upward for a few moments, all with unsettled expressions on their faces. After a few seconds, Double Dee slowly clenched his fists, his face becoming more and more distraught as time ticked on.

"Double Dee," said Eddy as he pointed toward the sky, "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

"Yes," said Double Dee, "And I don't believe it..."

"IT'S THE MAIDENS BOYFRIENDS TRUCK!" yelled Ed at the top of his lungs, "THE WEAPON SHE USED TO TAKE HER OWN LIFE AFTER VICIOUSLY TAKING THE LIFE OF HER BETHROVED!"

Eddy turned towards Double Dee.

"Now do you believe, Mop Top?" asked Eddy.

Double Dee paused for a few moments, at which point he decided to respond.

"Well Eddy, to be perfectly honest..."

Double Dee stumbled over his words, attempting to muster up an explanation for the sighting of the car wreck. However, within moments, the calm, placid and logical demeanor of the boy seemed to disappear.

"Yes, I believe!" yelled Double Dee, "On this night, I have witnessed things beyond my comprehension, things that have defied the science I have worked so hard to understand throughout my life, and things that are impossible explain with normal measures. This is absolute insanity, not only have my scientific methods been a complete lie, but now our lives hinge on our abilities to escape this wooden prison!"

At that point, a familiar feminine voice echoed through the woods from a distance.

"Double Dee!" yelled the voice of Marie, "Is that you!?"

Double Dee turned toward the source of the voice, calming down ever so slightly.

"Marie!" yelled Double Dee, "Yes, it is I! Where are you!?"

"Follow my voice!" yelled Marie, "We found a big clearing by the creek! Everyone's here except Ed and Eddy, we still haven't found them!"

"Rest assured, they are here with me!" yelled Double Dee, "Hang tight, we will be there momentarily!"

At the conclusion of his statement, all three Ed boys proceeded to dash in the direction of Marie's voice, guided by the small flashlight clutched within Double Dee's hand.


	9. Chapter 9

_Hello Everybody,_

_Thank you for tuning into this surprise "half hour special Halloween Episode" (actually a two and a half week story) I am glad everyone enjoyed the first act!_

_I'm having a blast writing this, and I hope you guys are enjoying the read._

_Lots of mystery still to be unraveled, will our friends escape?_

_Without further ado, here we go!_

**Chapter 9**

The three Ed boys, led by the narrow beam of Double Dee's penlight, continued to dash through a thicket of tightly packed trees. After battling through several yards of low hanging branches, thorny berry bushes, and uneven terrain, the claustrophobic nature of the forest began to relax.

With one final push, Double Dee lifted a low hanging tree branch, at which point an appearance of relief came across the young boys face. He had came upon a rather large clearing, nearly circular in shape. Unlike the remainder of the woods, the clearing was completely devoid of tall trees, being peppered with small shrubs and lined with a thick layer of green grass. The still silence characteristic of the forest had disappeared, being replaced with the gentle sound of trickling water. A small section of the towns namesake creek happened to meander through the clearing, it's gentle flowing waters lined with grey rocks of all sizes as the soft glow of the moonlight reflected off its surface. On the far side of the clearing was a small waterfall of sorts; a collection of boulders lying on a small hill, roughly ten feet in height, from which the waters originated, cascading downward as if it were a coffee maker filling the decanter. The creek wound back and forth across the grass as if it were a serpent, disappearing into the dark forest a few yards away from the boys position.

Due to being devoid of forest canopy, Doubles Dee flashlight was no longer required; the moon's natural creamy glow had full access to the area, bathing it with an intensity almost equivalent to a street lamp.

It didn't take long for the boys to take sight of their friends. The group had huddled near a series of rocks lining the creek, each dealing with the shock of the situation in their own way. May stood near the stream, providing a frantic "update" via the voice recorder she and Ed had brought along on the adventure. Kevin had placed his hand on Rolf's shoulder, who had collapsed into a seated position on one of the rocks. Adjacent to Rolf sat Jimmy, who had buried his face into his hands, sobbing uncontrollably as Sarah held onto him with a gentle embrace.

Lastly, Marie and Nazz stood together with expressions of distress. As Nazz ranted about their situation, Marie maintained a stoic, yet concerned expression, placing her right palm over her mouth as she did so.

Fortunately, the sound of the shifting foliage, due to Double Dee and the remaining Ed's making their way into the clearing, dispelled Marie's nerve induced trance. She turned towards the woods, and upon laying eyes on her boyfriend, developed a wide toothy smile.

"Double Dee!" yelled Marie in a an excited manner as she ran towards her boyfriend, embracing him tightly, "Thank God you're okay, I thought you were hurt!"

"I am happy to say that there are no reportable injuries," said Double Dee with a smile, "Words cannot describe how thankful I am to see you and all of our friends happy and healthy."

Double Dee gazed upon all of his friends, most whom appeared to be frightened beyond belief. Realizing the irony of his previous statement, he decided to partially retract it.

"Well, healthy that is..."

At that moment, Double Dee and Marie were suddenly separated as May barreled between them with an excited expression, her target destination being Ed who had just emerged from the forest.

"ED!" yelled May in an obnoxious manner as she proceeded to lock the large boy in a tight squeeze, "You're alive, I thought I'd lost you!"

"Ed has lived to see another day!" yelled Ed has he returned Mays loving embrace with a smile.

At that point, May briefly scanned her surroundings with an expression of concern. Taking notice that they were still one Ed boy short, May decided to provide a comment.

"Oh my God, where's Eddy?" asked May, "Is he dead?"

"The small fry Ed boy has been terminated?" yelled Rolf, "We must mourn our loss with the dance of the heavenly spirits."

"Oh man," said Kevin, "I wish I could take back everything about this stupid dare."

At that moment, Eddy finally emerged from within the bushes. As he dusted off his black hoodie, he gazed upon his friends with an expression of annoyance, finally deciding to respond.

"Glad to see you too Shovel Chin," said Eddy, "Sorry I ain't dead, you guys sure were quick to write me out of this thing."

"Eddy, your friends were merely showing concern for your well being!" said Double Dee, "You should be thankful to be surrounded by selfless comrades, especially in crisis situations such as these."

There was a bought of silence, as each and every Rethink Avenue inhabit present pondered their situation. A few moments passed, at which point Nazz decided to pose a question.

"So, like, what do we do now?" asked Nazz.

"Yeah," said Kevin, "We're pretty much sitting ducks out here in the open."

Double Dee observed his surroundings taking notice of the creek as he did so.

"Our situation may not be as grim as we perceive it to be," said Double Dee.

"What do you mean?" asked Marie.

"Our answer lies with the creek," said Double Dee, "As I recall, the creek traverses these woods, eventually making its way around the trailer park and through our quaint little neighborhood. By deductive reasoning, if we follow the creek, we should be able to find our way back to our residences."

"Wow," said Kevin, "Good idea man!"

"Yeah," said Marie as she wrapped her arms around Double Dee's neck, "That's my Dreamboats big sexy brain working its magic as always."

"Follow the creek?" asked Jimmy in his familiar high pitched voice, "But that means we have to go back into the dark and scary woods, a place infested with hideous monsters, not to mention a humidity level not suitable for my curl pattern!"

As Jimmy let out another high pitched scream, Eddy decided to provide his two cents.

"Yeah, I hate to say it, but the squirts got a point,' said Eddy, "It's too dangerous in those woods. Who knows? I could be attacked by another man eating tree...or worse..."

"What do ya thinks gonna happen if we stay out here, dork?" asked Kevin, "I say we go for it, we gotta get out of here somehow, right?"

"Rolf wishes to return to his drab life of cultivation and monotony," said Rolf, agreeing with his friend, "The spirit shall not have the last laugh over this son of a shepherd, through the woods we shall traverse!"

"Then it's agreed," said Double Dee, "We shall proceed with my suggested course of action?"

The remainder of the group remained silent, gazing upon Double Dee with expressions of doubt.

"Friends, I completely understand and sympathize with your fears," said Double Dee, "It is blatantly obvious that we are dealing with a unique situation. Someone or something is actively pursuing us, what that something is...well, that's not an answer I am prepared to provide. I'll admit, I momentarily lost my nerve after out last encounter with this so called entity, but I for one still harbor the belief that we are letting our imaginations get the best of us."

Despite Double Dee's best attempts to lighten the mood and inspire his friends, the group remained completely stoic; in fact, the intelligent Ed boys attempts seemed to have the opposite effect, as his peers began to slowly adopt fearful expressions.

"So you see my friends, calm your nerves!" said Double Dee, "Nobody is chasing us! Wouldn't a large clearing such as this be the perfect opportunity for an ambush? And yet we have yet to encounter anything out of the ordinary since taking our posts."

"Yeah," said Eddy in a nervene manner as he lifted his right hand in the air, "Except for that!"

At the conclusion of his statement, Eddy extended his index finger, pointing towards an area located behind Double Dee as his arm trembled with fear. This of course prompted Double Dee to slowly turn his head in towards his rear, in an attempt to classify the object identified by his friend.

Much to his dismay, the Ghostly Maiden had once again decided to make her presence known. The woman clad in white stood around thirty feet away from the Rethink Avenue crew, perched atop a hill adjacent to the source of the cascading waterfall. The ghostly woman casted an imposing presence; although her face was completely obscured by her wedding veil, the featureless canvas managed to convey her evil and malicious intentions. She stood tall atop the rocks, her thin and bony frame accentuated under the soft glow of the moonlight. Her right hand hung toward the ground, it's bloody, tattered evening glove standing out against the silky white of her dress. She had rested the head of her sledgehammer on the ground adjacent to her, such that the handle pointed toward the sky, kept in a vertical position using her left hand.

The group remained paralyzed with fear, staring in the direction of their tormentor wide-eyed and unable to speak. After a few seconds, the ghost bride slowly began to lift her right hand into the air in a slow wave, bringing her palm into an upward position as if she were summoning an unearthly demon to rise from the earth. At the same time, the same menacing red eyes brandished during her first encounter with Eddy reappeared, shining brightly from within her veil as she emitted a demonic chuckle.

The group watched with horror as a series of objects suddenly flew into the sky, casted from an area behind the ghostly maiden. The objects were too numerous to count, and due to their dark color, were quite difficult to identify at a distance. As the items reached the pinnacle of their height, they proceeded to level out and fall towards the ground, diving in the direction of the Rethink avenue friends as if they were fighter jets.

The group of friends huddled in fear as they finally realized the implications of the specters actions; as the dark figures drew closer, the teenagers were able to make out a pair of wings on the side of each, as well as a set of bright orange eyes and yellow beaks.

"THE CROWS!" yelled Ed, "RUN FOR IT!"

At the conclusion of Ed's statement the entire group let out a obnoxious scream, at which point they turned and began running at top speed in the opposing direction. In lieu of chaotically dispersing as they did during their previous escape, the group remained had opted to remain together as one unit; the open nature of the clearing combined with the idea being drilled into their head by Double Dee earlier that day being driving factors behind this decision.

The teens bobbed and weaved around the various shrubs peppering the landscape, as the crows bombarded the area, crashing to the ground around them as if they were artillery shots being fired on a battlefield.

Unfortunately as the crows continuously fell from the sky, the small and somewhat timid Jimmy managed become ensnared on the root of a sapling, (brought to the surface by soil erosion), causing him to plummet face first into the grass. The boy regained his senses and glanced forward, taking notice that his friends had began diving into the cover of the woods, ignorant to the fact that he had been left behind.

"SARAH!" yelled Jimmy at the top of his lungs, frantically attempting to free his foot as he did so, "HELP ME!"

Upon hearing the sound of Jimmy's voice, Sarah stopped in her tracks, turning back toward the source of the sound. Upon laying eyes on her best friend, trapped on the forest floor with no way to defend himself, the red head decided to react.

"JIMMY!" yelled Sarah in an anxious manner, "Don't worry, I'm coming!"

At that point, the small redheaded girl began to dash toward her friend, braving the dark and devilish rain of evil avians. In a matter of seconds, she managed to reach Jimmy's position, at which point she began pulling upward on the root, in an attempt to provide Jimmy space to slide his foot out from underneath.

After a few attempts at rescue, Sarah was finally able to muster up enough strength to free Jimmy. The timid boy quickly slid his foot out from underneath the branch, and rose to his feet.

"Come on Jimmy let's get out of here!" yelled Sarah as she released the root, causing it to spring downward towards the ground as if it were a snare. Jimmy obliged, and began running in the direction of the remainder of his friends while emitting a high pitched scream.

Unfortunately, while Jimmy was able to make his escape, Sarah's good deed did not go unpunished; the redhead, distracted with concern for Jimmy, had failed to realize that she had inadvertently placed her foot within the proverbial snare, causing it to be trapped upon the release of the root.

In a panic, the young girl attempted to free her foot with all of her might. Her efforts proved to be futile, as she had used up all of her strength on her attempts to free Jimmy. As Sarah continued to struggle, she took notice of a large shadow growing on the grass around her, blocking out the glow of the moonlight. The silhouette was in the shape a tall thin figure, and appeared to be holding its arms high in the air; brandishing what appeared to be a large sledgehammer.

Slowly but surely, the normally fearless and fiery red head turned her head, glancing upward as she did so. To her dismay, she came face-to-face with the fiery red eyes of the phantom, positioned just as she was projected via her shadow. The maiden slowly drew the hammer upward, seemingly preparing to drop it on Eds younger sister.

As the eyes of the tall and intimidating figure brightened, the phantom began speaking in a soft, yet malicious tone.

"How touching of you, little girl..." said the Maiden, "I usually only kill men for fun, but for releasing him, I've decided to make a little exception."

Sarah's bottom lip began to tremble with fear as she stared up into the eyes of her attacker; at the same time the Ghost Bride lifted her hammer slightly higher, preparing for the final strike.

"SAY GOODNIGHT!" yelled the ghost in a demonic growl.

At that point, Sarah let out a loud girlish scream, closing her eyes and covering hers as she did so. Fortunately for her, she was suddenly seized by a pair of familiar loving arms.

"BABY SISTER!" yelled Ed, who had made his way back to Sarah's position, braving the storm of crows and the intimidating presence of the specter.

Using the immense strength he was blessed with, the large boy proceeded to tear the root out of ground, freeing his little sister from its grasp. In an instant, he threw his sibling over his right shoulder, beginning a mad dash back into the woods as the maniacal laughter of the Ghost of Cobblers Peak continued to ring out from behind.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Ed dashed wildly across the grass filled clearing, carrying his sister to saftey while dodging rocks, fallen tree branches, and the unrelenting shower of dark colored birds. In a matter of moments, he had disappeared through tall grass and into the woods, where he was once again shrouded in darkness due to the canopy form by the treetops.

Ed continued to dash, searching his surroundings for any sign of his friends. A fearful expression adorned his face as he did so, due to a combination of his encounter with the ghost bride and the fact that he and Sarah were now al alone in the woods.

Fortunately, as the tall Ed boy continued his search, the sound of a familiar voice rang out through the air.

"Ed!" yelled the voice of Eddy in a breathy whisper, attempting to gain Eds attention while simultaneously remaining discrete.

The large Ed boy stopped in his tracks and proceeded to scan his surroundings for the source of the voice. It did not take long for him to make eye contact with Eddy, who stood roughly fifteen feet away from him. The small Ed boy signaled his friend to follow him, at which point the oafish Ed boy darted towards his comrade. Eddy led Ed a few yards away from their position, passing through several layers of low hanging brush as he did so. After a few seconds, they had reached their destination

Eds eyes widened with fear as he laid eyes on a large rocky outcropping, seemingly an extension of the cliffs lining the woods. The outcropping form an "awning" over sorts over the entrance to a what appeared to be a cave. At the base of the entrance to the cave were several haphazardly placed rocks, forming something of a natural staircase into the structure. The ceiling of the tunnel was populated with stalactites of various sizes, only the foremost of which were visible due to the deep interior of the cave being shrouded in darkness.

Ed reluctantly followed his friend into the mouth of the cave, at which point he was greeted with the sight of all of his friends. On the far side of the cave, Double Dee had taken a position leaning against the rocky wall; he held his chest, attempting to catch his breath as Marie clutched his opposite hand in hers, leaning her head on his shoulder. Adjacent to the couple, Kevin and Nazz embraced eachother lovingly, as Rolf surveyed his surroundings with a fearful expression.

Closer to the entrance, May and Jimmy had taken a position within the center of the cave. They were currently sharing a fearful embrace, their teeth chattering at what seemed like a mile minute; a product of extreme worry for their loved ones. As Ed entered the cave, both May and Jimmy took notice of his arrival; as he placed Sarah back down onto her feet, the two decided to react.

"Ed!" yelled May as she ran over towards his position, "My hero!"

"Sarah!" yelled Jimmy as the small boy followed Mays lead, running up to his friend and delivering her a tight and loving embrace. Unfortunately, Jimmy's smiling face quickly turned to one of concern, as he did not sense Sarah reciprocate their embrace as she usually did.

Jimmy pulled away from his red headed friend in an attempt to look her in the eyes. To his surprise, the confident and cool expression typical of Sarah had vanished, as did her obnoxious and boisterous personality. The young girl remained fixated, staring forward as if she were in a trance.

"Sarah," said Jimmy, "Don't worry, everything's going to be okay. We found a hiding spot and all our friends are here to protect us."

At that point a slight tear began to trickle from the area of Sarahs left eye. This was soon followed by a proverbial waterfall emanating from both of her eyes. The girls bottom lip began trembling profusely as she began to sniffle.

The entire cul-de-sac watched in shock and surprise as the normally spoiled, bratty, and boisterous Sarah began to show a very rare loss of resolve. A few seconds passed, at which point Sarah's obnoxious voice returned, although in this particular instance it was far from one of aggression.

"I...WANT...MY...DADDY!" yelled Sarah, emitting a slight sob in between words. She then began wailing loudly, frightened beyond belief at the prospect of being attacked by the ghost bride.

The remainder of the cul-de-sac watched, saying nothing as Sarah reached her arms out in the direction of her older brother. While there was most definitely a sibling rivalry between them, there was no doubt that deep down, the two shared an unbreakable bond of love that was rarely seen outside of the confines of their forest green house. Without hesitation, Ed opened up his arms, embracing his little sister as she buried her face into his chest, patting her back while fearfully attempting to calm her nerves.

As these events unfolded within the mouth of the cave, a dark figure dashed through the trees in the distance. The figure ceased movement around 45 yards away from the location of the cave, disappearing into the tall grass and assuming a position for visual observation of the Rethink Avenue teenagers. The figure appeared to be wearing full body camolflouge, as typically worn by hunters during shotgun season. On their head was a small skullcap, black in color, bending in perfectly with the surroundings of the dark forest.

As the shadowy figure settled into the grass, they slowly raised a pair of recon binoculars up to their eyes, training the lenses in the direction of the cave. Through the binoculars, the individual was able to make out all of the Rethink Avenue teenagers, conversing frantically amongst each other as they displayed expressions of distress. Furthermore, the mystery figure was able to make out the extremely distraught Sarah, highly upset and crying her eyes out in Ed's arms.

After a few seconds of observation, the figure proceeded to lower the binoculars, revealing a pair of ice blue eyes, adorning a pale feminine face peppered with several freckles; the trademark appearance of Lee Kanker. Her red curls peaked out from underneath her black skull cap, hanging to the area of her shoulders, waving slightly as she retrieved her glasses from her jacket pocket. After placing her glasses on her face, she continued to stare in the direction of her friends, uttering a few words to herself as she did so.

"Damn, I didn't mean to scare her that bad," said Lee, "But payback's a bitch, that's what happens when you kick my man in the balls. Don't dish it if you can't take it."

At that point Lee reached downward and detached a black hand radio (Walker talkie) from her jeans belt. She lifted the radio towards her mouth, pressing the button on the side to activate the communication channel.

"Reds to Little T," said Lee, "Do you copy?"

Elsewhere, around a hundred feet away from the woods, a figure in white had taken refuge behind the trunk of a thick oak tree, her tall thin frame completely concealed behind the gray bark. It was, in fact, the form of the Specter, appearing just as she did during the ambushes executed over the last half hour. The sledgehammer she had brandished at her "victims" rested on the ground adjacent to her position, it's brown handle leaning against the side of the tree.

Without hesitation, the "ghost" leaned towards the ground, retrieving an exact copy of the radio used by Lee from the large duffle bag she had brought with her. She proceeded to lift the radio to her face, at the same time using her opposite hand to retract her veil over her head, revealing the stoic and beautiful face of Lindsay. The blonde girl had applied heavy eye liner and pale facial makeup, causing the exposed portions of her skin to appear almost white. In addition, she had removed her large hoop earrings, replacing them with a pair reminiscent of styles worn during the 1970s (procured for this exact occasion). In addition, her normally loose hair had been tied up into a tight bun, in an effort to conceal it underneath the veil.

As Lindsay removed the white veil from her head, she activated the communication channel on her radio, causing it to emit a small amount of static and an audible beep.

"Little T's here," said Lindsay.

"Everything okay?" asked Lee.

"Yeah," said Lindsay as she examined the interior of silky wedding veil, "I think one of the eye LEDs is coming loose from the inside of the veil."

"Don't worry about it for now," said Lee, "I'll fix it once we get inside the cave. Just don't activate it if it's acting funny."

"I really have to say, this is a pretty fun prank!" said Lindsay, "These people are, like, so easy to scare!"

"Yeah it is," said Lee, "Did you see Eddy's face when you rose up from behind him?"

The two girls giggled.

"Yeah," said Lindsay, "Almost as good as when you grabbed him as the tree! You were right about those gloves you rigged up to look like the branches, they looked just like part of the tree under the darkness."

"The special effects did turn out pretty nice huh?" said Lee as she lifted a medium sized black dart off of the ground, and held it up to eye level to examine it. The dart had been meticulously modified to brandish a small set of wings, feathers and mock beak, in such a way as to not affect its flight.

"I didn't think these things would launch and fly as good as they did, but I guess all that hard work and determination paid off." said Lee, "The things we girls do just to see our men have a little Halloween fun..."

The two girls shared a giggle, at which point Lindsay decided to respond.

"Quit complaining," said Lindsay in a playful manner, "The behind the scenes stuff is easy, why am I the one playing the ghost most of the time anyway. You only took over the last time because you wanted to get Ed's sister."

"Hey you fit the bill," said Lee, "You're the prima Donna diva drama queen, so it makes sense that you are the main actress! And you're the best one to fill out the dress, especially up close! Remember, she told us the ghost is supposed to be ten feet tall, and there ain't no one else I know that's built like a dainty lady, and as tall as One Liberty Place."

Lee paused, adopting a playful manner of speaking prior to continuing.

"And that bitchy sounding voice ya got doesn't hurt either!" said Lee, after which she giggled.

"Whatever," said Lindsay playfully, "You just stick to the special effects, and let the real star keep stealing the show!"

"Alright Marilyn Monroe," said Lee, "Enough bullshittin' it's time to execute the next phase of our little plan."

"You got it," said Lindsay, "Is everything set up and ready?"

"Yep," said Lee, "It's all set. Scare them into running into the cave, and they should walk right into our trap. I'll meet ya at Checkpoint Charlie in ten."

"Checkpoint Charlie?" asked Lindsay, "You mean the back entrance to the caves we scouted out? Seriously, what's with you and all this phonetic crap."

"Comes with being raised by a Grandpa and Dad who were ex-military," said Lee after which she adopted a heavy chested militaristic sounding voice, "Get with the program punk!"

The two girls shared a giggle.

"Alright let's get moving," said Lee, "Reds over and out."

Lindsay paused for a few moments, at which point she slowly lifted the radio to her mouth. As an expression of doubt overcame her face, she attempted to assimilate into Lee's unique manner of speaking.

"Copy that...?" asked Lindsay in an unsure manner, providing a totally incorrect response to Lee's statement.

"Nice try," said the voice of Lee over the radio, in a grainy timbre and overlaid with static, "It's a start."

With a slight click and the sound of a beep, Lee disconnected the communication channel. Lindsay smiled as she placed the bridal piece back in top of her head, and lowered the veil to obscure her face. She then took hold of the sledgehammer (borrowed from her father for this occasion), and proceeded to gingerly weave through the trees in the direction of the cave.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Five minutes had passed since the Rethink Avenue teens took refuge within the mouth of the cave. Sarah had managed regained control of herself, and had ceased actively sobbing; however, she still maintained a fearful expression as her best friend Jimmy did his best to console her.

As the two younger children attempted to put each others fears to bed, the remaining eight members of the cul-de-sac crew remained in complete silence, staring out into the darkness as if they were under a hypnotic spell. A few seconds passed, at which point Marie placed her fingers up her fingers up to her mouth, nibbling at the tips as she spoke in a speedy manner.

"What are we gonna do, what are we gonna do, what are we gonna do!?" asked Marie.

"This is nuts!" yelled Nazz, "We should have just let the stupid boys have their fun!"

"Rolf has been regressed to a shell of his former self," said Rolf.

"Well, it's time to face the music," said Eddy, "We're going to die tonight."

At that point May began sobbing in a highly dramatic manner, staring towards the ceiling as tears sprayed out of her eyes in cartoonish manner. As May continued to cry, Eddy continued to deliver his thoughts.

"Kaput, vamush," said Eddy, "We're finished, it's over, we're done, game over, eighty-sixed, to the showers!"

"EDDY!" yelled Double Dee as he delivered his friend a quick slap across the face, "My word, keep it together man!"

"Thank you, I needed that," said Eddy in a quiet manner.

Double Dee paused for a few moments.

"This is a highly unusual predicament," said Double Dee as he paced back and forth with an expression of distress, "There is obviously something very, VERY wrong here that seems to be defying any form of logical explanation. But regardless of the situation, we are going to be fine. Alls we need to do is make our way back to the creek, follow it back to the neighborhood, and phone our parents and the authorities. Now please, let's all just exit the cave in a nice orderly fashion, and proceed to..."

Before Double Dee could complete his sentence, the sound of crows calling rang out in the distance; this was soon followed by yet another torrential avian onslaught. Within seconds, several crows (darts disguised as crows) began flying into the cave from above, soaring downward in an apparent aerial dive bomb.

As the birds began to rain down on the teenagers, May placed both of her hands on her head, closed her eyes, and let out a long, drawn out scream. Sarah and Jimmy responded in a similar manner, remaining seated on the rocky ground as they held each other in their arms. The remaining children also elected to express their fear via yells, as they waved their hands vigorously attempting to bat away the crows.

As the rain of birds continued to flood the cave, Kevin eventually decided to take action, igniting his camp light and directing its beam towards the interior of the cave. The athlete then turned towards his friends, signaling them to follow him while screaming at the top of his lungs, attempting to overcome the sound of their screams.

"Come on guys, follow me!" yelled Kevin as he dashed into the darkness, "We'll lose them in the cave!"

Without hesitation, all of his friends proceeded to follow him, dashing madly down the dark and cavernous hallway as they screamed bloody murder. As the crew disappeared into the caverns, the shower of crows ceased. Outside, Lindsay, dressed as the ghost bride, had taken a seat high on a small hill adjacent to the cave. She lowered the "crow launcher" (in fact a large, automatic fire custom nerf gun redesigned by Lee for this occasion) from her face, placing the weapon by her side while emitting a slight girlish giggle.

Inside the cave, the Rethink avenue teens barreled through the relatively roomy caverns. Guided by Kevin's flashlight, the group dodged stalagmites and small rocks, while treading through small puddles of murky water; each footstep emitting a small splash.

Eventually, the long narrow passageway opened up into a large cavern of sorts; a spacious circular room littered with rocky outcroppings, stalagmites, and a small pool of water. The high, dome-like rocky ceiling reached heights of around twenty feet, and was populated with several stalactites of various sizes.

Upon entering this chamber, the group quickly dispersed in a chaotic manner. The teens moved erratically, "pinballing" off of the walls in a cartoonish fashion as they continued to scream. After around twenty seconds, Double Dee finally managed to regain control of his senses and ceased running. The intelligent boy took his place in the center of the chamber, observing his surroundings as his friends continued to buzz about chaotically.

"Friends, friends, please control yourselves!" yelled Double Dee, gaining the attention of his peers. The remainder of the children ceased running, turning towards their friend as Kevin shined the flashlight in his direction.

"Control ourselves?" asked Eddy, "How the hell are we supposed to remain calm when there's a murderer after us? I'm done listening to you and your 'logical reasoning'. I'm in charge from now on!"

"Well Eddy," said Double Dee, "Since you're in charge, perhaps you could explain how we are going to go about finding our way out of these catacombs?"

"Easy, as pie," said Eddy as he grabbed the flashlight out of Kevin's hand, "They don't call me Indiana Eddy for nothin'!"

Eddy adopted an overconfident grin as he panned the flashlight around the room, attempting to locate the passageway that he and his friends had entered from. However, much to the small Ed boys displeasure, finding the way out was not as easy as he imagined; unfortunately, the perimeter of the room was peppered with several small openings, branching out from the chamber as if they were the legs of a spider. To make matters worse, due to their fear-induced hysteria, they had become completely disoriented, unaware of which passage was the one that had served as the inlet to the chamber.

"Ah, shit..." said Eddy in a negative manner as he continued to pan the flashlight around the room.

"Now do you understand the direness if our situation?" asked Double Dee, "We could have simply followed the creeks flowing waters back to the neighborhood, but no, the great Eddy McGee decided to take refuge inside the cave in an effort to avoid the crows, leaving us with no means of escape aside from traveling deeper into the structure. And where has this oh great decision left us? Trapped within the confines of this beautiful, yet unsanitary underground prison. I hope you're happy!"

At that point, Eddy's anger, which had been building throughout the course of the night as a result of his fear being exposed, as well as the desperate nature of his situation, seemed to get the best of him. The small boys face turned a bright shade as he ground his teeth, all the while gripping the handle of the camping flashlight in a tight manner.

A few seconds passed, at which point Eddy lifted the flashlight behind his head, as if he were an athlete winding up for a pitch during a baseball game.

"SHUT UP!" yelled Eddy as he hurled the flashlight in the direction of Double Dee. The slim boy was able to telegraph Eddy's action, ducking just as the object came within inches of his face. Unfortunately, this action resulted in the lamp continuing on its parabolic trajectory, eventually impacting the rocky wall of the cave, and shattering it's bulb. The groups main source of light had now been eliminated, plunging the chamber into near complete darkness.

"Uh oh," said Eddy, realizing the implications of the situation.

"Great job dork!" yelled Kevin, "Now we can't even see!"

At the conclusion of Kevin's statement, Jimmy let out a high pitched scream.

"Our heroes have found themselves within the grasp of the shadow of darkness," said Ed, narrating the situation as he took hold of May in his arms, "Will they ever be able to find an escape route?"

"Alright everyone, don't panic," said Double Dee in a frantic manner has he began patting his jacket, as if he were searching his pockets, "I just need to locate my pen lamp. While not nearly as powerful as the camping flashlight, its illumination should be sufficient to assist us in finding a way out."

As Double Dee continued to search his pockets, a familiar sound filled the air from within the caverns; a faint hum to the tune of "Hush Little Baby". Upon hearing the soft eery tune, Double Dee ceased his movement, as the rest of his friends froze in place as if they were statues.

"Oh no," said May in a whisper, "She found us..."

The creepy humming continued to grow in intensity, as the sound of slow footsteps joined in, keeping a moderate pace, but growing in amplitude as they proceeded to approach the position of the group. After a few seconds, a slight glow appeared within one of the passages; orange in color and flickering as if it were video signal static on a television set.

As the passageway became increasingly illuminated, a small shadow appeared on the wall, growing in size as the figure producing it drew closer to the outlet. The silhouette was highly humanoid, the shape of the head being indicative that the individual had donned some form of head gear with hanging, drape like extensions; the exact shape of the ghost brides wedding veil.

As the footsteps and humming became louder, the group began to huddle together, sharing an embrace while trembling in fear. They were trapped, the ghost had followed them into the cave and they had no means of escape.

With one final step, the specter rounded the corner; due to the low light levels it's features were indistinguishable; it appeared merely as a dark figure wearing a brides head dress. Her ever present hammer had undergone a drastic transformation; the business end had been ignited, spewing flames out of its top as if it were a torch delivered from the devil himself.

The group collectively let out a loud scream at the sight of the entity. At the same time, Double Dee quickly searched his pockets in a nervous fashion; after a few seconds, he was finally able to locate his pen light. In one swift motion, he removed the light from his pocket, trained it in the direction of the maiden, and activated its beam, illuminating the dark figure.

Upon casting his light on the shadowy figure, Double Dee's face transformed from one of fear to one of surprise; at the same time, the remainder of the group ceased screaming, and adopted a relaxed disposition.

The figure proceeded to take a few steps forward, entering the beam of light and revealing a familiar smiling face.

"Hiya guys!" said Jonny.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

The children of the cul-de-sac were quite surprised see their eccentric, loner of a neighbor in the depths of the caverns; even more so due to the manner in which he was dressed. The boy had covered his usually bald head with a bridal head dress; however, unlike the ghost of cobblers peak, the veil was retracted over the boys head, providing a full view of his face. Over top of his usual fall clothing, the boy had donned a white robe, similar to the Kasaya worn by Buddhist monks, secured in the closed position by a grey belt of sorts. The robe hung well past his knees, dragging on the ground as he walked, and leaving the bottom two inches stained in various shades of brown and green. Around his neck hung a golden chain, adorned with a pendant in the shape of a skull; in his right hand, he carried a long pole, similar in make to the handle of a sledgehammer. However, in lieu of being capped with a hammer head, the pole was topped with a torch head, currently burning a bright orange flame. The imaginative boy carried the torch as if it were a staff, using the bottom end for "balance" during locomotion as the flames lit the way.

"JONNY!?" yelled the entire group simultaneously.

"What in heavens name are you doing here in this cavern?" asked Double Dee

"Just making my rounds!" said Jonny in an exuberant manner.

"Making your rounds?" asked Eddy, "Looks to me like you're in the middle of some kind of seance or something, what's with the get up?"

"I'm trying to channel the Ghost of Cobblers Creek, what else would I be doing!" said Jonny, "Ever since I heard about the legend of the ghostly maiden, I've walked the woods and these caves every night during the Halloween season, in search of the specter herself. I've even set up a shrine dedicated to her a little deeper in the cave, with the hopes of drawing her out so I can prove she exists..."

"Wait a minute," said Kevin, "You mean to tell me you're the leader of some kind of cult dedicated to the Ghost of Cobblers Peak?"

"Hmmm." said Jonny, "I prefer the term Peach Creek Paranormal Society, of which I am currently the only member...I guess that makes me the leader...HA!"

"Well ya came at the right time," said Marie, "The maiden is outside. She's been chasing us all night trying to kill us, that's how we wound up in here!"

Jonny adopted a somewhat pompous expression prior to delivering his response.

"Get outta town" said Jonny, "Stop pulling my leg, I've been searching for her for five years, there's no way you guys found her in one night!"

"Listen Jonny," said Nazz as she aggressively marched towards her friend, "Cut the crap, this is serious! We saw it all, just as it's described in the story, the animated trees, the storm of crows and the ghost bride herself. She chased us into this cave, and now we have no idea how to get back out."

Nazz ran her fingers through her hair.

"Like, thank god you're here," said Nazz, "I mean you said you've been coming here for five years, so you can get us out of here, right?."

"Hmmm," said Jonny as he adopted a sly grin, "I don't know, I'll have to think about it."

"What!?" asked Nazz

"My memories getting kind of fuzzy," said Jonny, "People forget things, just like you forgot about your promise to read through our comic book on Monday night."

"Seriously?" asked Nazz, "You're still harping on that!? I told ya, I'd sit and work with you as long as you want, I was just busy too that day."

"A promise is a promise." said Jonny as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Geez babe, ya couldn't have just stayed and listened to Melonhead for an hour?" asked Kevin, "Are you really that dumb?"

As Kevin raised his voice at Nazz, Jonny adopted a slight expression of anger, peaking at the point of Kevin referring to Nazz as being dumb. Nevertheless,the boy did everything he could to maintain his playful, yet stoic expression as Kevin continued to lecture his girlfriend.

"You know this guy is nuts," said Kevin, "You gotta do what he wants or else he'll hold us all hostage like he is right now."

"Lay off, Kev," said Nazz, "He's not crazy, he's just got a huge imagination, and a big heart too. To be fair, me and Marie did kind of blow him off. We were just so focused on trying to scare you guys and prove ourselves, that we couldn't focus on anything else."

At that point, Nazz turned towards Jonny with a smile.

"And for that, I'm sorry," said Nazz as she delivered a slight wink in Jonny's direction. The bald boy said nothing, responding only with a smile of his own.

"Whatever," said Kevin as he snatched the small flashlight from Double Dees hand, "If baldy ain't gonna tell us how to get out of here, then I'm gonna lead us out."

Kevin turned and began making his way down the same passageway that Jonny had emerged from a few minutes ago.

"C'mon dorks, follow me." said Kevin, "Let a man show ya how it's done!"

Jonny observed as the group began to follow Kevin into the passageway, his face adorned with a neutral expression as the teenagers disappeared around the bend. As the sounds of Kevin and Eddy arguing over who controlled the flashlight decreased in amplitude, Jonny remained focused, staring into the now dark passageway as if he were deep in thought.

After a few seconds, Jonny let out a sigh and uttered a few words to himself.

"You know you deserve better," said Jonny in a somber manner, after which he suddenly regained his happy go lucky demeanor, "Oh well, time to continue my search!"

At the conclusion of his statement, the bald boy performed an about face away from the passageway, turning his body towards the interior of the spacious cavern. However, as he turned, the relatively pleasant expression that adorned his face slowly faded away, replaced with an expression of shock and confusion. At the same time, the small sound of a deep moan emanated from across the cavern, as did the slight sound of hobbling footsteps. Jonny remained completely still; the room was entirely illuminated, albeit rather dimly in the soft orange glow of Jonny's torch, allowing him to identify the source of the noise.

As the entity drew ever closer, Jonny's expression of confusion transformed into one of fear; in complete shock regarding whatever he laid eyes on, the eccentric boy dropped his torch, extinguishing its flame in a shallow pool of murky water, and proceeded to dash through the passageway behind him, screaming heavily as he did so.

As Jonny had his first encounter with what appeared to be one of the lurkers in the dark rumored to haunt the woods, the Rethink Avenue group continued to travel around down the narrow and twisted passageway, guided by the faint beam of their small flashlight. As Kevin led the way, Eddy followed close behind, eyeballing his surroundings as he did so; Ed and May followed suit, with May tightly clutching Ed's left arm as the two made their way over the rocky and rough terrain. Marie, Double Dee, Rolf and Nazz brought up the rear, all tip-toeing ever so carefully as they fearfully made their way down the claustrophobic hall.

Eventually, Kevin ceased walking, as he had come to the end of the passageway. The boy had been scanning the small light on the ground in front of him, as if he were a submersible pinging sonar for navigation, and had fortunately discovered a sharp, ten foot drop directly in front of his position. Upon training his flashlight down the hole, Kevin discovered that the rocks, while steep, formed a climbable surface, and began making plans regarding the best way to descend.

As the drop came into view, Kevin lifted his arm out to the side, signaling his peers behind him to stop. As Kevin lowered his arm, Eddy approached the red hatted boy.

"So what's you're plan now Shovel Chin?" asked Eddy.

"We're gonna climb down," said Kevin, "You first."

"Me?" asked Eddy, "No way, you're in charge! You go scout it out!"

"Hey you're the smallest," said Kevin, "You can go scout it out to see if we can fit. If you can fit through and we can't, you can go get help!"

"Oh sure," said Eddy, "Sounds like a ploy to send me right into the Maidens clutches. I'll pass."

The boys continued to argue for a few more seconds, at which point the sound of Jonny's screaming filled the air. In an instant, the boy had caught up to them and, running at what seemed to be the speed of light, plowed his way through the group towards Eddy and Kevin's position. Disoriented by the darkness and his fear, the boy neglected the fact that he was coming to the end of the tunnel, plowing into Kevin just as the jock trained the flashlight in his direction.

Unfortunately, the resulting momentum caused both boys to tumble over the edge; forcing them into an uncontrolled slide down the slippery rocks into the chamber below. As the boys began their descent, Eddy attempted to break their fall by grabbing onto Kevin's hoodie; unfortunately, the weight was simply too much for the boy, even with the muscled he had developed during ballet practice with Lee. This resulted in Eddy beginning an uncontrolled descent as well.

What followed was a cartoonish train of failure; one by one, each member attempted to stop the individual standing before them in file from sliding down the pit, all of their efforts being in vain. After one final stand by Rolf, the foreign boy lost his footing, sliding down into the chambers below to join his friends.

During the fall, Kevin lost his grip on the flashlight, causing the object to land a few feet in front of the groups position at the bottom of the rock slide. The small flashlight pointed towards one of the chambers walls, illuminating it slightly and allowing the group to gauge the size of the area. This new cavern seemed much more claustrophobic than the previous one; the ceiling was only around ten feet height at maximum, it's irregular surface dipping down to heights of seven feet at the lowest. The room was a circle of around twenty feet in diameter further emphasizing the claustrophobic feel.

As the boys regained their senses, they turned towards Jonny 2x4; the boy was currently seated on the ground, dazed, and appearing to be in a fear induced catatonic state.

"Great job Jonny," said Eddy, "Now we're stuck down here, if ya wanted to tag along you should have just asked!"

Jonny suddenly jumped to a standing position, grabbing Eddy's shirt collar as he did so.

"We gotta get outta here!" yelled Jonny.

"No shit," said Eddy as he grabbed Jonny's hands, pulling him away from his shirt collar, "I'm glad to see you finally understand our situation."

"No you don't understand," yelled Jonny, "There's a ...um...uh...yeah."

At that point, Double Dee approached the bald headed boy, attempting to make contact with him under the condition of bare visibility in an effort to calm him down.

"Jonny, please calm down, use your words," said Double Dee, "No what sort of thing have you witnessed to bring you such a state of anxiety?"

"It was horrible!" said Jonny in his typical over-exaggerated and obnoxious voice, "Not a human at all I tell you, but some kind of...undead ghoul! And it was right behind us!"

"A ghoul?" asked Double Dee.

"Oh no," said May, "It's the maidens fiancé! He's come to eat our brains and serve us to the ghost bride!"

"We gotta get outta here quick!" yelled Jonny, "Don't worry, I know exactly where we are. If I remember correctly, there's a path leading to a way out on the other side of the room. We can escape through there."

"Right," said Kevin as he bent down to pick up the pen light, "Let me get the light."

Kevin was completely unprepared for the surprise he was faced with upon returning to a standing position. As the lights beam rose, it uncovered the most gruesome sight; hidden in the darkness, directly in front of Kevin's position, was a human skull. The skull was filled with cobwebs and missing its lower jaw. The eyeholes were black as coal, and several cracks permeated around the orbits. Most notably, the skull was impaled on a long thin pole, the base of which was firmly driven into the ground. The area through which the pike penetrated the skull was heavily cracked, as if the skull was violently placed onto the spike.

Upon laying his eyes on the skull, Kevin let out an obnoxious scream, drawing the groups attention. Of course the remainder of the group proceeded to join in on Kevin's scream, only exacerbated as Kevin scanned the flashlight around the chamber. To the groups shock and horror, the entire chamber was populated with disembodied heads, all placed on pikes of their own in varying conditions; some retained their skin while missing their jaws, others still had their eyes gauged out.

Wasting no time, Jonny yanked the flashlight out of Kevin's hand, and proceeded to dash towards the opposite side of the chamber.

"Here's the way out!" yelled Jonny, "Follow me!"

The entire group proceeded to follow Jonny's lead, exiting the chamber through a narrow passageway on the opposite side of the room as they screamed bloody murder. As the teens made their exit, the beam of a powerful camping flashlight ignited behind small a rock located near the entrance. In a matter of seconds, the thin, shapely frame of Lee Kanker emerged, still dressed head to toe in camoflouge, giggling has she watched her her friends made their escape.

After a five second duration, the teens finally emerged from within the cavern, exiting via a passage on the opposite side of Cobblers Peak. Lead by Jonny, the crew raced back into the woods, attempting to find a place to hide and regain their bearings.

Unbeknownst to them, Lindsay (dressed in white as the maiden) had taken her place behind a tree adjacent to the cave exit. She poked her head around the trunk, being careful to keep her body hidden as she observed her friends seemingly break the sound barrier, disappearing into the distant woods.

The tall diva giggled slightly, at which point she retrieved her walkie talkie. She lifted the device up to her mouth, pressing the talk button as she did so. A slight beep sounded as she opened a communication channel to her bestie.

"Mission accomplished," said Lindsay through the walkie talkie.

"Yep," said Lee from within the cave, "Attention to detail, that's why we're the best!"

"Should we tell them now?" asked Lindsay, giggling as she did so.

"Hmm," said Lee, "It's tempting, but I think we have time for one more little prank...and then we'll tell em'"

The two girls shared another giggle as Lee panned her flashlight around the underground chamber, admiring her and Lindsay's craftswomanship as she did so.

"Man, we did a bang up job with the skulls and zombie heads," said Lee, "They look so authentic, almost like they're real."

Lee continued panning around the room, eventually honing her flashlight on a life sized sculpture of a zombie. The zombie appeared just as it has been described in the story; its jaw hung open, seemingly unhinged, and various scars peppered its green and brown hued skin. It's soulless eyes were pure white, staring lifelessly into the distance as Lee illuminated it with her flashlight. The monsters left arm hung limp, while the right arm remained stiffly flexed at a 90 degree angle towards the chest, it's radius protruding from its bloody forearm.

Despite being stiff, Lee was taken back by the dummies virtually realistic appearance. Nevertheless, she shrugged off her feelings or fear, smiling as she decided to compliment Lindsays work via the walkie talkie.

"And why didn't ya tell me about the zombie?" asked Lee, "It looks great, I'll admit it just scared the shit out of me!"

"What zombie?" asked Lindsay.

"The one you made and put in the corner near the high rocks," said Lee.

"I didn't make a zombie..." said Lindsay in a confused manner.

At the conclusion of Lindsays statement, Lee's stomach dropped as if she were on a roller coaster. Compounding this terrible feeling was the fact that the "fake"zombie began to moan in a low pitched gritty timbre. The moans grew louder by the second as the zombie slowly rotated its head in the direction of Lee, it's pure white eyes completed focused on her position.

Without warning, the zombie suddenly lurched forward, holding its arm outs toward Lee while continuing to groan. This action completely shattered Lee's typical deadpan demeanor, causing her to emit a high pitched, girlish scream, picked up by Lindsay via walkie talkie.

"LeeLee!" yelled Lindsay, "What happened!"

At that moment, Lee turned away from the zombie and proceeded to make a mad dash towards the exit. Simultaneously, fearing the worst for her best friend, Lindsay left her post behind the tree, and attempted to renter the cavern to assist.

To the tall girls surprise, her best friend suddenly emerged from the caves envelope of darkness, panting heavily as she held her chest.

"What happened?" asked Lindsay as she placed her hand on Lee's shoulder, "Are you hurt?"

"No," said Lee, "Someones in there..."

"What!?" asked Lindsay, "That's impossible."

"I'm serious," said Lee, "It was the zombie of the ghosts ex-fiancé, just like in the story."

"Hmmmm," said Lindsay, "I see what's going on, you're trying to scare me now!"

"No I'm not!" yelled Lee in a frantic manner, "I'm telling the truth."

At that point, a soft eery voice pierced through the still autumn air; the gentle voice of a woman humming to the tune hush little baby.

To the girls shock and surprise, their eyes detected movement from the vicinity of the woods. They observed, dazed and confused as a large figure emerged from behind one of the trees in the distance. It was in the form of the Ghost of Cobblers Creek; however, there were some major differences between it and the facsimile Lindsay had attempted to portray.

While Lindsays version of the ghoul was taller than most, the specter standing before the girls dwarfed both of them; standing at around ten feet tall, true to the story. The specters dress was slightly off white; this coupled with the fact that several pieces of the dress were tattered, gave the appearance of wear and tear. The dress, gloves and veil were of course covered in several ancient blood stains, many of which appeared a dark shade of magenta due to their apparent age. Her veil completely obscured her face, as she clutched a large, rusty sledge hammer in her hands, brandishing it as she happily hummed her favorite tune.

The girls stood wide-eyed and surprised at the unbelievable sight of the specter. As several pieces of tattered fabric, emanating from the maidens dress, waved in the breeze as if they were flags, Lee and Lindsay shared an a expression of distress. Their attention was soon brought back to the ghost, upon hearing a few simple words in the whisper register.

"Thanks for the wonderful portrayal of my work," said the Ghost in a highly malicious manner, "But I don't take kindly to the theft of my intellectual property...just for that, what you previously imagined will now become your REALITY!"

At the conclusion of the brides statement, both Lee and Lindsay let out a loud, piercing, girlish scream. They girls simultaneously turned towards the woods, and began running in an effort to catch up to their peers.


	13. Chapter 13

**Authors Note**

_Hello everyone!_

_We're on the final leg with this story, and it's been a blast. Will the kids make it out of the woods alive? The fact that I have some more future stories planed for our favorite gang says yes, but who knows (sorry, just have to build the tension!)_

_Anyway, thank you all so much for sticking by me, and I'm glad you are enjoying the story._

**Chapter 13**

The teens of Rethink Avenue continued on their way, barreling through the woods as if they were a freight train. Unbeknownst to them, the dynamic duo behind the majority of the frightening trials they had encountered this evening were following suit.

Neither of the girls had done much running prior to a few weeks ago. Following Lindsays medical clearance, and after a lot of persuasion to have over protective father to sign the forms, she and Lee had joined the school cross country running team, as a means to unwind and obtain physical exercise. Although they had trained substantially over the last few weeks, both girls presented a far from perfect running stance; years of being adapted to ballet had caused Lee to adopt and unusual running gait. Her feet flared out to the sides, the balls acting as the contact surface with the soil rather than the soles. Lindsay ran in a much more dainty manner; her lanky legs took short yet powerful steps, as her hands held the front of her bridal dress above her quickly moving feet.

After a few seconds, the two girls managed to catch up to the remaining teens.

"Hey guys!" yelled Lee, "Wait!"

The sound of Lee's voice prompted the entire group to stop in their tracks, turning towards the in rapidly approaching duo with expressions of confusion. The lack of illumination combined with the fact that Lindsay was still dressed in her bridal costume caused the group to emit a slight scream as they approached.

"The Ghost Bride's back!" yelled May, as she pointed towards the girls, "Run!"

"Wait you nimrods!" yelled Lee, "It's us!

The girls ceased running around ten feet away from the group, panting heavily as they attempted to catch their breath.

"Lee, Lindsay?" asked Eddy, "What are you two doing here?"

At that point Rolf took notice of Lindsay, wearing the same dress that had been used to torment he and his friends over the course of the night. She had retracted her veil, revealing her pretty face; a prospect that the boy simply could not ignore.

"My Beautiful Schemtlockin!" yelled Rolf as he ran towards Lindsay. He proceeded to wrap his arms tightly around her thin frame, causing the girl to adopt an expression of distress, "Rolf is pleased to see you, as his night has been thrown to..."

"No time for that Spaz!" yelled Lindsay as she shoved Rolf away, "We have to get out of here, we're in danger!"

"Really now?" asked Marie, "I think the only danger we're in is the fact that we were fools. The dress and Daddy's hunting gear tell the whole story. This thing has L Squared written all over it, the whole ghost bride thing was just one big prank wasn't it?"

"So what if it was?" said Lee in an aggressive manner, "Alright, we admit it! Your female empowerment bullshit coupled with the fact that everyone and their mother was talking about this ghost sparked our interest, so we decided to play a prank on you guys."

As Lee continued to explain herself, she walked towards her blonde friend, providing a demonstration you pointing to the items as she referenced them.

"We made this dress, veil and gloves, spilled some tomato sauce on them, and borrowed a sledgehammer from Lindsay's dad," said Lee, "Everything was a setup, the red eyes were LEDs, and the crows were toy darts with fake wings."

The entire group let out a simultaneous groan.

"Are you kidding me!?" said Kevin, "A whole night wasted on a dumb prank."

"What a dirty trick!" said Jonny.

"So, it seems I was correct in my assumption that there was an earthly explanation to this so called paranormal phenomena," said Double Dee, in a much calmer manner, "I must admit girls, you did have me somewhat shaken up with your creative ensemble! Have you given any thought to using your special effects skills to wow audiences at the harvest festival?"

"That's a pretty good idea Double Dee, but the way things are goin' we might not even get the opportunity," said Lee, "The real ghost bride is right behind us!"

"C'mon babe," said Eddy as he placed his hand around Lee's hip, "You ain't gonna get us with that trick again, we're on to you."

"No Eddy, we're serious!" yelled Lindsay in a frantic manner, "She's really after us!"

At that moment, the soft sound of hush little baby penetrated the still silence of the woods. The entire group turned to the area behind the two girls, at which point they spotted the large, decrepit figure of the ghost bride. She stood between two trees, humming eerily as she stared towards the Rethink avenue teenagers while clutching the sledgehammer in her right hand. Her old, blood stained, and tattered dress flowed in the autumn breeze, appearing somewhat translucent under the light of the moon.

Upon laying eyes on the new, much more intimidating incarnation of the Ghost of Cobblers Peak, Eddy adopted an expression of extreme panic, pointing towards the entity as he did so.

"IT'S THE GHOST OF COBBLERS PEAK!" yelled Eddy.

"Gee, imagine that!?" yelled Lee in a sarcastic manner.

"Wh...what do we do!?" yelled May as she nervously nibbled on her nails.

"What do you think we do you moron!?" yelled Lee as she took her boyfriends hand in hers, proceeding to pull him in the opposite direction, "RUN!"

The group now led by Lee, proceeded to run in the opposite direction of the ghost bride, once again weaving through the trees while making the best possible effort to remain as one unit.

Due to a combination of the uneven terrain and her long white dress, running proved more difficult for Lindsay than for the remainder of the kids. She had fallen slightly behind, running in her typical gait of small dainty steps while holding her dress up with both of her hands. Unfortunately, this eventually resulted in a trip over a series of uneven rocks, causing the lanky girl to plummet to the ground.

Lindsay struggled to regain her footing for a few seconds, a prospect made difficult by the long tail of her bridal dress. She soon ceased struggling, freezing in place as she heard the sound of the ghost brides hums growing in intensity.

The blonde girls slowly turned her head, angling it upward as she did so; to her great dismay, she came face-to-face with the gigantic figure of the demon herself. The specter giggled in a cackling manner, a malicious feminine giggle eerily similar to those often emitted by Marie, as she loomed over the poor diva, brandishing her sledgehammer.

Lindsay, completely bewildered by her predicament, stared upward into her tormentors eyes with a blank stare. A few moments passed, at which point she let out a loud ear piercing scream, calling for help in the process.

"AAAAAAHHHH!" yelled Lindsay, "Someone help me, I'm too young to die!"

At the sound of Lindsay's scream, the entire group ceased running, turning their attention back towards their friend. Lee of course, was the first to react.

"Liz!" yelled Lee as she began preparations to hurry towards the location of her friend.

However, just as Lee began to take her first step, another individual sprung into action; the tall, sweater clad figure of Rolf dashed pass her, running in the direction of his crush at what seemed to be the speed of light.

"Lizzy!" yelled Rolf, "Have no fear, the beast will not have their hand on any part of Rolf's center of affection."

As Rolf continued on his way towards Lindsay's position, the ghost bride continued to giggle maniacally. As she did so, she proceeded to lift the large hammer over her head, grasping it's wooden handle with both of her hands as she prepared to deliver a downward strike. The action prompted Lindsay to close her eyes, and emit yet another high pitched scream.

"ROLF!" yelled Lindsay in a long drawn out manner.

By this time, Rolf had come within ten feet of the ghostly maiden. With determination, the foreign boy removed the large, dead fish (that he had brought with him for use as a weapon) from hammer space in the rear of his pants. Grabbing it by the tail fin, he drew the fish back over his shoulder, yelling as he did so.

"Be gone with you I say!" yelled Rolf as he chucked the fish with all of his might, causing it to spin through the air end over end on a direct collision course with the ghost brides face. Before the ghostly maiden had time to react, the moist and rank skin of the fish impacted her in the vicinity of what could be best described as he left cheek, hidden behind her veil. The hit jarred the maiden backwards, causing her to emitting a slight shriek.

The teens watched from a distance as the ghost bride lowered her hammer, using her right hand to clear the fish residue off of her veil as she continued to hobble about; her tall frame contorting and writhing in a demonic manner as she did so. Double Dee seemed particularly intrigued by the maidens odd motions, staring at her with an expression of curiosity rather than fear.

As the maiden continued the process of recovering from Rolf's sudden attack, the brave boy rushed to Lindsay's side. He proceeded to kneel down, and place his arms underneath the thin girl; one under her back, and the other under her knees. In one swift motion, he lifted the girl into the air, and proceeded to run back towards his friends, cradling her on his arms as if she were a bride being carried across the threshold on her wedding day (how fitting). Lindsay instinctively wrapped her hands around his neck for support as they two continued one their way, joining their friends in their attempt at escaping to safety.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

All thirteen members of the Rethink Avenue crew, now united under the common goal of escape from the Ghost of Cobblers Peak, continued their mad dash through the woods. After climbing a relatively steep grade, the group came upon a small meadow of sorts. No trees inhabited the roughly 30 square foot area, only a few small thorny shrubs, and a thick covering of tall grass.

Most notably, the space was occupied by two wooden structures. One, located off the the side of the main building, appeared to be a small shed of sorts; a small five by five square space with an eight foot height, just big enough for the storage of common lumberjack tools. The main structure was a much larger building, similar in construction to a barn. The base measured roughly twelve by twenty-five feet, the gable roof, the apex of which spanned the longer side of the structure, rose to a height of around fifteen feet. The red paint that had once adorned the structure had been largely stripped away by the elements, leaving behind a few chipped spots of dull paint overlaying rotting and decrepit pine wood. Several small windows lined the sides of the structure a few feet above ground level; a single wooden door graced the front of the structure, acting as the entrance.

"Look, the old lumberjack shack!" yelled Jonny as the structure came into view, "We can hide in there and wait for dawn!"

Blinded by fear, the kids dashed toward the structure. Eddy was the first of the to reach the door. He took hold of the rusty handle, turned it, and began his attempt at pushing the door inward, ultimately failing at doing so.

"Stupid door!" yelled Eddy as he jiggled the handle, "It's stuck!"

At that point, Eddy lowered his shoulder, and proceeded to repeatedly strike the door using his body weight. After around five strikes, the remainder of his friends finally arrived behind him. While the majority of the kids displayed fearful expressions, Lee seemed unamused regarding Eddy's antics.

"Any day now dork!" yelled Kevin.

"I'm trying," said Eddy as he continued to ram the door, "This stupid door won't budge."

Lee rolled her eyes.

"Alright macho man," said Lee, "Step aside!"

Eddy ceased pounding the door and moved to the side, allowing Lee access to the entry way. The redheaded girl simply placed her hand on the latch, and proceeded to pull outward, finally opening the door. She gazed upon her boyfriend with a stoic expression who, upon finally realizing that his attempts to push the door inward were futile due to it being an outward swinging door, groaned under his breath.

"I was just about to try that," said Eddy in a quiet manner.

"Sure you were sweety," said Lee as she turned towards her friends. "Come what are ya's waitin' for get inside!"

At the sound of Lee's words, the remainder of their peers funneled into the structure. After the entry of Rolf, still carrying Lindsay in his arms, Lee pulled the door shut. Thinking quickly, Eddy grabbed a coil of heavy duty rope that happened to be hanging on the wall in the vicinity of the entrance. He turned towards Rolf, who had just placed Lindsay back on her feet. The two teenagers stood still, gazing into each others eyes with seemingly loving smiles; due to their height difference, Rolf was (for once) forced to turn upward to maintain eye contact with the slim diva, who was around three inches his superior.

"Rolfie boy!" yelled Eddy, breaking the two teenagers away from their trance as he tossed the rope in Rolf's direction, "Rig the door shut, will ya!"

"Have no fear small fry Ed boy," said Rolf, "For Rolf..."

"Yeah, we know the old country yada yada!" yelled Eddy, "Hurry up, the ghost is coming!"

At the sound of Eddy's words, Rolf gazed through one of the old, square shaped windows peering out into the meadow. Sure enough, the ghost bride had found them, and was currently making her way towards the barn while humming her ghostly tune.

Upon laying his eyes on the approaching maiden, Rolf adopted a nervous expression. He then proceeded to use his knowledge of knots, along with rigging principles he had learned from his proverbial "school of hard Knox" to secure the door. In a matter of seconds, he had tied one end of the rope to the door latch, and fed the other end around one of the interior support beams. He then pulled the rope taught and secured the knot, effectively preventing the door from being pulled open from the outside.

As Rolf secured the door, Eddy and Lee collapsed onto the wooden floor, sliding down the wall and breathing a sigh of relief as they did so. After a few seconds, the sound of Eds voice filled the air.

"Um, guys..." said Ed as he shined Double Dee's flashlight towards the rear of the structure.

The entire group focused their attention towards the vicinity of Eds flashlight beam. At that moment, each and every individual seemed to enter a catatonic state; hanging upon the back wall of the shack was a large assortment of old, rusty, unkempt tools, seemingly left there by the traveling Lumberjacks that once used the shack as a rest stop. The tools consisted of several saws of varying sizes, large heavy duty shears, sharp axes and a few gasoline powered chain saws.

"Oh boy," said Eddy, gawking as the tools came into view.

"My word," said Double Dee, "The craftsmen certainly didn't skimp when it came to maintaining their stock of tools!"

At that point Sarah ground her teeth, emitting a groan as she turned towards Jonny.

"Jonny you idiot!" yelled Sarah, "Now we're going to be hacked to pieces for sure! Just look how you made poor Jimmy feel!"

Sarah grabbed Jimmy by the shoulders, holding the timid boy out towards Jonny as if he were a sign. The small boy cowered, clasping his hands in front of his chest as he emitted his characteristic high pitched scream.

"Me?" yelled Jonny, "I'm the one that led ya out of the caves! You should be thanking me."

"Friends please," said Double Dee, "Bickering will get us nowhere. I don't believe the presence of these sharp and somewhat intimidating tools will affect our survival in the slightest. Rolf has secured the door in the closed position, there is no way the maiden will be able to penetrate our proverbial fortress."

Double Dee paused.

"I propose we hang tight and wait this out," said Double Dee, "The Ghost of Cobblers Peak, or whoever that may be out there, can't possibly linger on these grounds forever. There is bound to be a time when she retreats, at which time we will make our escape."

"Whatever," said Kevin, "What else can we do?"

Around fifteen minutes had passed since Double Dee had proposed the option to weather the storm, and each member of the cul-de-sac decided to pass the time in their own way. Ed and May had spent the entire time in each others arms, sitting in the corner of the barn as their teeth chattered, as did Sarah and Jimmy. Marie, Double Dee, Nazz, Jonny and Kevin had made a ball out of a piece of paper and were kicking it around as if it were a hacky sack. Near the opposite wall, Lee and Eddy remained seated on the floor; as Eddy stared off into the distance, Lee laid her head on his lap as if it were a pillow, her hands holding her cell phone near her stomach as her eyes focused on her virtual chess puzzles. Directly to their left, Lindsay had taken a seat on an old wire spool, crossing her legs as she performed a touch up to her perfectly manicured nails; Rolf of course had also taken a seat on the same spool, staring at Lindsay with loving eyes as he did so.

After their period of waiting, Lee finally decided to break the silence.

"So, anyone wanna check and see if she's gone?" asked Lee.

Responding to her sisters query, May rose slowly from her seated position, continuing to bite her nails as she peered through one of the small windows lining the barn. A few seconds passed, at which point the imposing figure of the ghost passed in front of the window, continuing to patrol the perimeter of the structure as she awaited the teens to family make their exit.

"She's still out there!" said May in a nervous manner.

"Damn," said Lee, "There's gotta be a way to get her to retreat, or else we're gonna be stuck here until dawn."

"That's a prospect I simply cannot entertain," said Double Dee, "What would mother think if I didn't complete the task of folding the linens in time for her return from work?"

"Oh yeah, how awful," said Eddy, "We're all as good as dead, and all you can think of is not finishing your Mommy's chores!"

"Well Eddy, if maintaining a proper home is a crime, than I am guilty as charged," said Double Dee, "The point is, we all have lives and responsibilities we need to attend to, and this little charade is costing us all of our precious free time. I am here to inform you that I am no longer amused at this little escapade, and I still do believe that there is an earthy explanation to this phenomena."

At that point, Double Dee began making his way towards one of the small windows, and proceeded to open it.

"Double Dee," said Marie, "What are you doing?"

"I am going to attempt to find my way back to the cul-de-sac" said Double Dee, "Once I locate the creek, I'll return to escort all of you back to our happy homes."

"But Double Dee," said Marie, "That's crazy!"

"Well we certainly can't remain prisoners to this supposed entity all night," said Double Dee, "I'm going out to scout the area, would anyone like to volunteer to join me?"

The entire population remained momentarily silent; eventually Eddy rose from his seated position and made his way towards his friend.

"I'm in," said Eddy, "I ain't afraid of no ghosts, and it ain't my style to just sit around and wait."

Double Dee shared a smile with his friend, at which point he was suddenly grabbed with force from behind, and lifted into the air.

"Have no fear, Ed is here!" yelled Ed.

"Ed," said May as she ran towards her boyfriend, "Are you sure?"

"Don't worry May," said Ed, "I must be brave. I will send the evil woman back to the throws of the underworld where she belongs, then I will come back to you."

May smiled as she suddenly dashed towards Ed, wrapping her arms around him.

"Don't you die on me Ed," said May in a dramatic fashion.

May let go of her boyfriend, at which point he adjusted his catchers pad and football mask, and made his way towards the window with determination. At the same time Marie wished Double Dee good luck, kissing him goodbye as he climbed out the window.

Eddy was the last of the three Ed boys to make his way through the portal. His height required him to jump in order to get his body on top of the sill; as his body hung halfway out the window, (his head facing inward) Lee playfully walked towards him, grabbing him by the shoulders and helping him to the ground.

"Thanks babe," said Eddy as his feet touched the ground, "I'll be back for you in no time."

"Leave it to you to play the hero," said Lee, "Ironic after we had you running for your life earlier tonight."

Lee laughed in a playful manner as Eddy mustered up a small smile of his own. She then reached out the window, gripped Eddy's shirt collar with her hand, and pulled the small boy towards her. As she leaned close to his face, their noses almost touching, she adopted a serious expression.

"I love you Eddy," said Lee, "Get back here soon, bud!"

The couple shared a kiss for a few seconds, at which point Eddy pulled away smiling dreamily in Lee's direction.

"Love you to babe," said Eddy as he began his trek away from the shack, "See ya soon!"

The three Ed boys turned away from the cabin, and began the process of stealthily sneaking around towards the front of the structure. All three boys remained close to the wall, attempting to stay within the shadows as they carefully observed their surroundings.

"It's quiet," whispered Eddy, "Do you think she's gone?"

"Perhaps," said Double Dee as he neared the front of the shack, pausing prior to extending his head around the corner, "We can never be too cautious though. Allow me to inspect the area of the front of the shack, and once I assure that the coast is clear, we can escape into the woods."

Double Dee slowly but surely extended his head around the corner, attempting to scout the area for danger. In an instant, the boy retracted his body back into the shadows, simultaneously adopting an expression of distress as he pointed to a patch of tall grass adjacent to the shack.

"Quick, get down!" whispered Double Dee in an authoritative manner, at which point all three boys dove into the grass in an attempt to remain incognito.

In a matter of seconds, the large, intimidating form of the ghost bride rounded the corner. She walked in a slowly deliberate manner, as if she were marching down the aisle on her wedding day; her old and tattered dress flowed behind her as if we're the whispy tail of a ghost, as she hummed the tune of "hush little baby" in an eery manner.

All three boys observed from within the grass as the maiden passed directly in front of them, glancing upward with expressions of fear.

"I...I...It's her," said Ed in a low breathy whisper, "T...Th...The Real Ghost of Cobblers Peak."

While the sight of the maiden seemed to invoke fright in Ed and Eddy, Double Dee remained focused on the specter with a neutral expression. As the maiden passed, the intelligent boy analyzed her figure, taking notice of two features that seemed to peak his curiosity:

This incarnation of the ghost, just as the last few, wore long white evening gloves; however, hers were worn much higher than most, extending past her elbows and nearly to the area of her shoulders. Unfortunately, one of the gloves had managed to slip downward, revealing a portion of the maidens upper arm that most likely was meant to be hidden. Furthermore, in addition to cradling her trademark sledgehammer in her right hand, the ghostly maiden had acquired an additional tool. It appeared as a long, black metallic pole, one end of which was equipped with a typical pry bar; the other end was armed with a short, sharp spike, in addition to a chisel-like structure mounted at a 90 degree angle to the spike.

Being a mechanically minded individual, Double Dee instantly recognized the tool, and understanding its purpose came to the conclusion that only one individual would have easy access to such a tool.

"Please," said Double Dee in a sarcastic manner, responding to Ed's statement as he rose to a standing position. The black haired boy exited the bushes, and began following the slowly moving maiden.

"Double Dee, what are ya crazy?" asked Eddy in a whisper.

"Hardly," said Double Dee as he continued to tail the specter, "Follow my lead and have faith in my judgement."

The two remaining Ed boys reluctantly rose from their seated position, and began to follow their brainy friend. The ghostly maiden, ignorant to the fact that she was being followed, made her way around to the front of the structure. She approached the pine door, humming her signature tube as she did so, and momentarily rested her sledgehammer against one of the walls. She then proceeded to place both of her hands her new tool, brandishing it as if it were a baseball bat.

"Knock, knock!" said the Ghost in a cackling intonation, startling the teenagers within.

At that moment, the maiden swung the spiked end of the tool in the direction of the door; the impact drove the spike into the jam, leaving the wedge-like protuberance facing downward. The group inside screamed as the ghost bride pushed downward on the long handle of the tool with all of her weight, causing the wedge to force the door inward; due to the principles of leverage, the device easily cracked the old wooden door, allowing the ghost entry into the structure.

Inside, the entire group watched with fear, huddled together in the rear of the building as the maiden stood in the doorway, cackling as if she were an evil witch. The specter retrieved her sledgehammer, and began to slowly make her way inside.

After taking a few steps, the ghost ceased her movement, lifting her right hand in the air as she did so. As she pointed towards the cast, she began speaking in a slow, deliberate manner, reminiscent of the wicked witch of the west.

"Congratulations on surviving as long as you have," said the Ghost, "But now it's time for me to do my bidding. As I said before, my quarry is usually only men, but I've decided to make an exception..."

The ghost took her sledgehammer in both of her hands as she continued her monologue.

"Annalee, Tiffany," said the ghost in a sinister manner, "I choose you to be the first of my victims. You two have sullied my name and work with your piss poor excuse of a trick, and for that you must PAY!"

As the remainder of the group fell back, Lee and Lindsay remained in the center of the room. Both girls had taken a kneeling position, holding each other in their arms as their faces displayed fearful expression. For the first time, both Lee and Lindsay, alpha females who had prided themselves with maintaining an air of bravado in front of their friends, were completely at the mercy of their fear. As the ghost bride approached, both girls decided to attempt to reason with the demonic specter.

"Please spirit!" yelled Lee in an uncharacteristically fearful voice, all traces of her city accent gone, replaced with much more cowardly inflections, "We're sorry, it was just a harmless prank, a gag!"

"Y...yeah..." said Lindsay as she continued to clutch her friend, "We never meant to aggravate you! If we knew you were real, we would have never impersonated you! I'll give you anything! A new hairstyle, a manicure, a new dress! Please don't hurt us!"

The ghost continued to cackle as she raised the sledgehammer high over her head, preparing to administer the final blow.

"Any last wishes?" asked the Ghost in a threatening manner.

Lindsay, in a panic and in the heat of the moment, decided to speak up.

"Yes," said Lindsay as she suddenly let go of Lee, and proceeded to reach for Rolf. With one swift motion, she grabbed the boy his shoulders, and pulled him towards her. She proceeded to touch her lips to his in a long, drawn out passionate kiss, eliciting shock and surprise from the remaining kids. Lindsay pulled away from from.

"You've done so much for me over the last few months," said Lindsay in a passionate manner, "Your the first boy that ever showed me respect and liked me for who I was. If we ever get out of this, I'll take you up on your offer to be your girlfriend!"

Lindsay shoved the surprised Rolf away from her, returning to clutching Lee in her arms. All traces of fear seemed to vanish from within Rolf's psyche; the boy appeared to be at utter peace, seemingly floating in the air while sighing.

"Well Liz, it was nice knowing ya," said Lee as she grasped her friend, her eyes beginning to tear up "I'm glad I got one last chance to tell Eddy I loved him!"

"You too LeeLee," yelled Lindsay in a fearful manner, "I hope the undertaker does my makeup right!"

The two girls closed their eyes, emitting a loud high pitched girlish scream as the maiden continued to laugh maniacally. After a few seconds, the maiden finally decided that it was time to execute her plan.

"SAY YOUR PRAYERS!" yelled the maiden at the top of her lungs.

Unfortunately for the maiden, she had not realized that Double Dee and his friends had managed to sneak up behind her. As the maiden completed her previous statement, Double Dee took hold of the back of her dress with his right hand, and her veil with his left. In one swift motion, the thin boy yanked the dress and veil away from the humanoid figure, revealing the identity of the ghost bride and simultaneously inciting shock and surprise from his peers.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Roughly an hour had passed since the ghost of cobblers creek had been unmasked, and the denizens of Rethink avenue had decided to trade the rough, dark and spooky environment of the woods for the comfort of Double Dee's den. The slim boy had invited all of his friends back to his house for a night of warm tea, pumpkin spice coffee and impromptu Halloween fun.

All of the teenagers, with the exception of Sarah and Jimmy who had other plans, enjoyed their time in Double Dee's den in their own way. Ed and May took their place in the middle of the room, dancing in a goofy manner to the "Graveyard Smash", a classic Halloween novelty swing tune, for the sixth time in a row. Kevin and Eddy took turns bobbing for apples, turning it into a friendly competition, as Jonny and Rolf shared scary stories; on the opposite side of the room, Marie and Nazz conversed over their seasonal favorite pumpkin spice coffee.

While most of the teens were filled with nothing but smiles, two members of the group were anything but happy. Across the room, Lee and Lindsay remained seated on the couch; both sat with their legs crossed and arms folded, displaying perpetual scowls as they stared towards the wall.

A few moments, passed, at which point Double Dee reentered the den through the large, ornate French doors. Cradling a cup of tea in his right hand, he made his way towards Eddy who had just completed his turn at dunking his head into the bucket.

"Hey bro" said Eddy as he spotted Double Dee, punching him in the arm as he did so, "Thanks again for inviting us back to your place to unwind after all that craziness. This night was unreal!"

"Anytime Eddy," said Double Dee, "As you know, I am always happy to entertain my friends, especially after spending half the evening in those decrepit woods, being exposed to an unknown variety of ectoparasites!"

"Yeah," said Eddy, "It's great to be home. They sure had us fooled to the bits..."

Eddy glanced towards his girlfriend, who remained seated next to her best friend with a scowl.

"Especially Lee," said Eddy, "She ain't letting it go anytime soon, so I gotta be real careful not to bring it up or I'm in the doghouse!"

Double Dee and Eddy shared a giggle.

"Ah yes," said Double Dee, "The greatest surprise of the night! Who would have possibly known that Ms. Lonergan, who had once lived and went to elementary school in Peach Creek, was the originator of the story! It's truly amazing that, despite not knowing any of our parents, her story was eventually passed down to us through numerous other native Peach Creekers! Not only that, but she and Mrs. Statorowski once played a similar prank on Mr. Statorowski and his friends during a trip to the pumpkin patch when they were children."

Double Dee paused momentarily as the remainder of the group turned their attention towards the Ed boys conversation.

"And it appears Lee and Lindsays curiosity regarding the legend for the sake of pranking us ultimately backfired," said Double Dee.

"So spill it!" said Marie in a playful manner, "How'd you figure out it was my mom and Chuckie Stat in disguise."

"It was quite simple really," said Double Dee, "First, when Rolf bravely challenged the Maiden in response to Lindsay being in danger, I noticed that she buckled along her midsection in an unusual manner upon being struck with that strange specimen of osteichthioform."

"Rolf has brought great shame upon himself," said Rolf in a melodramatic manner, "For he has struck the man whose loins sired Rolfs Sweet Babushka, a tremendous offense in the culture of Rolfs old country."

"Ah no sweat Rolfie boy!" said Eddy as he delivered a punch to his friends arm, "Chuckie Stats cool with it, ain't nothing changing the fact that he likes ya and he knows it's all in good fun!"

The group shared a laugh amongst each other as Lindsay rolled her eyes, emitting a small groan as she did so. After the laughter died down, Double Dee decided to continue with his explanation.

"Anywho, I recalled Sarah and Jimmy's ill fated attempt at portraying the ghost bride," said Double Dee, "Jimmy had a difficult time balancing on Sarah's shoulders, and their almost impossible movements were a dead giveaway that two people were to blame. While Ms. Lonergan fared much better on Mr. Statorowski's shoulders, their sudden loss of balance due to being struck elicited similar movements to those displayed by Sarah and Jimmy."

Double Dee paused.

"The second clue was the ghost brides evening gloves," said Double Dee, "I noticed that this particular incarnation of the ghost bride wore her gloves much higher than Lee and Lindsay's interpretation. Unfortunately for her, the right evening glove had slipped slightly downward, revealing a small portion of Ms. Lonergan's signature ballet shoe tattoo."

Double Dee took a sip of his tea prior to continuing.

"The third clue was the tool the maiden used to force entry into the shack," said Double Dee, "Being quite familiar with tools, I instantly recognized the apparatus as a Halligan bar, a device commonly used by firefighters to gain access through locked doors during rescue operations. I could only think of one person who would have easy access to such a device."

Double Dee giggled.

"And finally, the last clue," said Double Dee, "During her interrogation of our favorite dynamic duo, the ghost referred to the girls by their full first names, Annalee and Tiffany. Only their parents refer to them as such, and that fact pretty much solidified my theory."

"Nice detective work sweetie," said Marie as she wrapped her arms around Double Dee's neck,delivering him a kiss.

Marie turned towards Lee

"Too bad Ms. Resting Bitch Face can't take a joke." said Marie.

Lee groaned as she ground her teeth.

"I am never...speaking...to Mommy again," said Lee.

Marie and May snickered amongst themselves, at which point May decided to speak up.

"Well we know one good thing came out of this," said May, "The hard times got ya'll to admit your feelings out loud, and I got it all on tape!"

"What!?" said Lee and Lindsay as they simultaneously turned toward May with angry expressions.

May giggled as she brandished the camcorder she and Ed used throughout the night as a means to document their ghostly adventure.

"Seriously May," said Lee, "You were the most afraid of that stupid story out of anyone here. You'd think you'd be too upset about watching your sister die to film anything!"

"Hey, I had to document evidence of the ghost brides existence," said May, "Besides, the video might prove that I wasn't the only one who was scared."

May reached into her pocket, retrieving a rather lengthy cable used to plug the camera into the television set for playback. As she did so, Lee adopted an expression of anger.

"May," said Lee, "You'd be wise to put that thing away!"

"C'mon Lee," said May, "It ain't no secret that you love Eddy and Lindsay likes Rolf, and besides everyone gets scared once in a while."

"Annamae Lynn!" yelled Lee the stern manner of a mother as she rose off of the couch pointing towards her sister as she do so.

"Okay, okay, geez I won't show it," said May, "But that doesn't change the fact that it happened."

"Whatever," said Lee, " It's getting erased if me or Liz ever get a hold of it."

Eddy snickered as Lee retook her place on the couch next to her best friend, taking a sip of her soda in the process. He then retrieved his drink, making his way toward Double Dee's position as he did so.

"Well Double Dee," said Eddy, "Everything's back to normal!"

"The ghost has been vanquished!" yelled Ed

"I suppose," said Double Dee as he directed his attention towards Lee and Lindsay, "I do have a few unanswered questions for you girls if you don't mind."

"What's that?" asked both girls simultaneously.

"After you frightened us away from the clearing, Ed, Eddy and I encountered a false, but very well executed presentation of the maidens successful suicide attempt, complete with her boyfriends truck stuck in the tree and an old tattered farm dress that appeared to have been impaled on one of the branches." said Double Dee, "Upon questioning your parents, they have no recollection of staging such a stunt, so by deductive reasoning, I can conclude that you two must have been behind that. Would you care to explain how you were able to portray such a believable scene?"

"And how the hell did you guys steal Ed's medical bag right under our noses near the creek?"asked Marie, "You guys still haven't given it back by the way!"

"Yeah," said Jonny, "And how'd you guys make that zombie costume you used to scare me in the tunnels? Your parents didn't do that either!"

Lee and Lindsay glanced at each other momentarily with expressions of confusion, at which point they turned back towards their friends.

"I don't know what youse have been inhaling," said Lee, "But we didn't do anything with no car or a dress in a tree."

"Yeah," said Lindsay, "And we don't have any medical bag to give back. If someone took your medical bag, it wasn't us."

"As for the zombie," said Lee, "I figured it was one of you guys playing a prank back on us. You saw it too Jonny?"

"Yeah, it chased me through the caves into the room where you guys set up the skulls!" said Jonny, "It looked so real, don't deny it, I know it was you Lindsay."

"Puh-lease," said Lindsay, "I would never be caught dead looking that garish, even on Halloween. Plus, those elastics would be murder on my facial skin...no thanks. Besides, I was outside the cave the whole time, Annalee was the one who told me about the zombie."

There was a momentary pause, as the group pondered the unusual circumstance presented before them. After a few seconds, Eddy decided to speak up.

"Well," said Eddy, "Someone or something did all those things...but who?"

The teenagers stared at each other in silence, all with curious expressions on their faces. As they did so, the cream colored glow of the moon shined brightly over the treetops of the woods, as the eery sound of a woman's voice humming "Hush Little Baby" in a gentle tone sounded from within. Within the trees, the blue tattered farm dress, discovered adjacent to the crashed truck by Eddy, continued to wave; as maniacal female laughter echoed over the wind.

**The End**

_Well guys, that was an absolute blast! Major props to Craig Bartlett and the Halloween holiday for inspiration for the story, I think it came into it's own well and turned out fine! Thanks to everybody who read, it is most appreciated._

_What a nice change of pace writing a short story! It really makes writing those new episodes and future work look promising._

_So what's next?_

_Well, first and foremost there's going to be a slight break from writing to recuperate. I will use this time to work on my YouTube Let's Plays, as well as more art related to my fanon. I look forward to doing some more drawing as I really enjoy it. I have received a few requests for art on my DA profile and will facilitate, but please do not hesitate to request any additional scenes, character models etc. you would like to see. I'd be happy to draw them._

_There will definitely be more stories in the future, but for now I'm going to take a little break to relax the old story telling noggin!_

_Until we meet again, Happy Halloween Everyone!_

_KiltedEngineer._


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